Black History Month at Wright State

Sharon Jones, professor of English language and literatures.

Throughout February Wright State University’s Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center will host a series of lectures to celebrate Black History Month. The events are open to all Wright State students, faculty and staff and the public.

Black History Month programming kicks off on Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 4:40 to 6 p.m. in the Millett Atrium with a presentation by Sharon Jones, professor of English language and literatures at Wright State, on “Revisiting the Past: Exploring Images in Blaxploitation Films.”

The second presentation will be held Monday, Feb. 10, by Opolot Okia, professor of history at Wright State, who will discuss the “History of the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center” in the Millett Hall Atrium from noon to 1 p.m.

Aldon Morris, the Leon Forrest Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Northwestern University, will give a lecture and presentation on “W.E.B. Dubois at the Center: From Science, Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter” on Tuesday, Feb. 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Student Union Atrium. Morris’ lecture is sponsored by the Bolinga Center and the Office of Black Faculty and Staff Collaboration.

Opolot Okia, professor of history

The final event of the month is a fiction book reading by Gariot Louima, vice president for enrollment and student success at Antioch College, on Monday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. in the Stein Galleries in the Creative Arts Center.

This event is sponsored by the Bolinga Center; Kelli Zaytoun, professor of English language and literatures; the Department of English Language and Literatures; the African and African American Studies Program; the Office of Latinx, Asian and Native American Affairs; the Office of LGBTQA Affairs; the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program; and the Women’s Center.

As part of the month of events, HIV testing will be offered in the Bolinga Black Cultural Resources Center, 140 Millett Hall, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information about Black History Month programs, contact the Bolinga Center at bolinga-center@wright.edu.