The Valencia African Heritage Association has adopted Black Resilience as the 202 Black History theme. "African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores. These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction...Black [resilience] strategies have served as a model for every other social movement in the country, thus, the legacy and importance of these actions cannot be understated...As societal and political forces escalate to limit access to and exercise of the ballot, eliminate the teaching of Black history, and work to push us back into the 1890s, we can only rely on our capacity to resist." Learn more about the theme.
Review our list below of 2023 Black History Month events. Check back often as new events are added.
The Peace and Justice Institute and The Valencia African Heritage Association invite you to attend:
Liberation Literacies: At the Intersection of Language, Race, and Power
with Dr. Jamila Lyiscott
February 1 | 7 pm - 8:15 pm
WATCH: TED Talk "3 ways to speak English"
READ: "Black Appetite, White Food" by Jamila Lyiscott
February 7 is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a day to acknowledge progress in HIV prevention and care among Black/African American people, while recognizing the work still needed.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) writes, “when our communities Get Educated, Get Tested, Get Involved, Get Treatment, we make progress in our goal to stop HIV together.”
Shoebox Lunches: A Taste of Resistance
February 16, 2023
1:00 – 2:15 pm
West Campus - TBD
During the segregation era of the twentieth century, Black and African descent travelers relied on their wits for their survival as they traversed areas riddled with racial conflict where a wrong stop could mean their death. As a form of resistance, travelers developed the Green Book (published between 1936 to 1964). The Green Book provided them with information about the places that would be welcoming for black individuals, where they could get some food or get some sleep. However, for routes that had no safe spaces recorded in the book, travelers would pack shoebox lunches at home. In commemoration of these individuals, who did not let the racial conflict of the time silence them, VAHA invites you to a shoebox lunch. With a cooking demo by KC Cuisine, explore the non-violent paths to resistance taken by black people during segregation. Free food by KC Cuisines will be provided on a first-come first serve basis.
VAHA Presents "Black Resilience" Spring Book Discussion
February 21, 2023 | 1:00-2:30 PM
Meet & Mingle and Join Us for the Live Play
Join VAHA for Angels in America: Perestroika at the East Campus Black Box Theater on Friday, February 24 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $10 for Valencia employees, students and seniors. Tickets will be on sale two weeks prior to the event here.
Catch up and chat with fellow colleagues and VAHA members by arriving 30 minutes prior to showtime.
You can read part 1 of Kushner’s play by logging into your Valencia library account.