February is Black History Month! Celebrate with the many amazing events happening on campus this week.

Here at Bwog, we do our best to bring your attention to important guest lecturers and special events on campus. If you have a correction or addition, let us know in the comments or email events@bwog.com.

Student Event Spotlight

• On Monday, February 6, at 9 pm, the African Students Association will be hosting a “Rizz 101” social event in the Malcolm X lounge (first floor of Hartley). Stop by for relationship tips, tricks, and hot takes!
• On Saturday, February 11, from 7 to 11 pm, Turath, the Arab Students Association, will be hosting their annual Arab Gala event in the Low Rotunda. Join for amazing music, delicious food, and beautiful company.

If your club or organization is interested in having your event featured in our weekly roundup, please submit them to events@bwog.com or DM us on Instagram @bwog.

Recommended 

• On Monday, February 6, from 12:10 to 1:10 pm, US Senator Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will be making a special visit to the Columbia University community to connect and speak with students, staff, and faculty regarding climate change, US policy, give a special in-depth discussion on his new book The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court, and the damage the Court is doing to the fight against climate change.
• Also on Monday, February 6, from 4 to 5 pm, join Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library for “An Oral History of Mass Incarnation,” a conversation with New York poet and urban culture collector Kurt Boone about the oral histories he took of family members experiencing mass incarceration. Some were incarcerated, others have children or parents implicated in the US prison system, and still others work in law enforcement or corrections. Through this familial lens, the narrators add dimension and depth to how we listen to our loved ones’ stories, construct our personal histories, and think about our country’s over-reliance on imprisonment. Please register online for this Zoom webinar.
• On Wednesday, February 8, from 6 to 8 pm, Columbia Religious Life will host the special event “On Wonder: An Evening of Magic with Jeanette Andrews,” in the Earl Hall Auditorium. Magician and artist Jeanette Andrews will present pieces from her performance repertoire, and then be joined in conversation with Professor Matthew Engelke before taking questions from the audience. This event is presented in collaboration with the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life; the Heyman Center for the Humanities; and the Departments of Anthropology and Religion. Please register online to attend.
• Also on Wednesday, February 8, from 7:30 to 9 pm, students can attend a lecture on craft as part of the Creative Writing Lecture series, featuring award-winning novelist Joshua Cohen. Joshua Cohen is the author of the novels The Netanyahus, Moving Kings, Book of Numbers, Witz, A Heaven of Others, and Cadenza for the Schneidermann Violin Concerto; the short fiction collection Four New Messages, and the non-fiction collection Attention: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction. This in-person event will take place in Dodge Hall Room 501.
• On Thursday, February 7, from 6 to 9:30 pm, will be a discussion and viewing of a clip from Hidden Letters, a film exploring a secret language Chinese women used to communicate in an oppressive society. Award-winning documentarian and Columbia Journalism School Professor June Cross will interview documentarian Violet Du Feng and screen a 15-20 minute clip of her film. Spanning past and present, Hidden Letters explores an ancient, secret language devised by Chinese women that a generation today is resurrecting to help navigate misogyny. Please register online to attend the event, which will take place in the World Room of Pulitzer Hall.
• Also on Thursday, February 7, from 6:30 to 9 pm, students can join Dean Josef Sorett for the book series launch event “Black Lives in the Diaspora: Past/Present/Future,” celebrating a new collaboration between Howard University and Columbia University, published by Columbia University Press. The evening will feature welcome remarks from Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick and the founding Chair of Columbia University’s African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, Farah Jasmine Griffin, followed by a conversation between Columbia College Dean Josef Sorett and Howard University economist Omari Swinton. They will discuss the importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which are the subject of the first book in this new series, Vital and Valuable: The Relevance of HBCUs to American Life and Education. The program will be in-person in the Langston Hughes Auditorium of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and available on livestream. Please register online if planning to attend either the in-person event or the livestream.
• Also on Thursday, February 9, from 7 to 8:30 pm, Columbia College Women and the Columbia College Alumni Association will host an “AlumniTALK” conversation, “Black Women’s History and Barbie.” A’Lelia Bundles (JRN ’76), vice-chair emerita of the University Board of Trustees, will join in conversation with Carlyle Nuera, Barbie Signature’s lead designer at Mattel, and Crystal Moten, a historian and curator, with moderator Elizabeth Yuan (CC ’96, JRN ’98), CCW programming co-chair. They will discuss entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in America; Black entrepreneurship, including in the Midwest; representation in Hollywood and dolls; and Black women’s scholarship. Nuera will also show how personal, historical and sartorial details are captured in Barbie’s “Inspiring Women” series, including in the Walker doll. Please register to attend this online event.

Black History Month header via Pixabay