MAYS LANDING - Atlantic Cape Community College begins its month-long celebration of Black History Month on Monday, Feb. 3 with several open-to-the-public events, panel discussions, educational forums, presentations, cultural awareness events and two Pan-African flag raising ceremonies.
Atlantic Cape’s Mays Landing, Atlantic City and Cape May County campuses will each host numerous student-centered and open-to-the-public events throughout the month of February.
The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey will return to the Student Center on the Mays Landing campus with its self-paced historical display titled “The Northside: Redlining in the Sand.”
The Worthington Atlantic City campus will host two open-to-the-public Black professionals panel discussions on criminal justice and women in healthcare.
The Cape May County campus will host a Coalition for a Safe Community-sponsored discussion with Janis Washington White on how to eradicate all forms of racial bias in classrooms today.
The following is a detailed listing of events scheduled at each of our three campuses during the month of February:
Mays Landing Campus
• Pan-African Flag Raising & Live Performance (free and open to the public): 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, Quad/Student Center Lobby (G-Building). Join the Black Student Alliance in raising the Pan-African flag to celebrate the beginning of Black History Month. After the ceremony, enjoy live entertainment. Light refreshments will be served.
• Open Mic – Expressions (free and open to the public): 12:30-2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, Student Center Lobby (G-Building). Join an open mic event, sponsored by the Black Student Alliance, to share and listen to reflections, poetry and stories of the Black and Brown experience.
• The Northside: Redlining in the Sand (free and open to the public): 10 a..m to noon Tuesday, Feb. 11, Student Center Lobby (G-Building). This event is sponsored by the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey. Explore the factors that created segregated neighborhoods, such as Atlantic City’s Northside, which existed throughout the country at the turn of the century. Light refreshments will be served.
• Black Professional Hair Stylists Panel: Hair Me, See Me (free and open to the public): 12:30-2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb.25, Student Center Lobby (G-Building): The Black Student Alliance is sponsoring this empowering event celebrating Black hair! Engage with a panel of professional hair stylists and a Q&A session afterwards.
Charles D. Worthington Atlantic City Campus
• Pan-African Flag Raising: noon, Tuesday, Feb. 4, Campus Grounds. The Pan-African flag will be raised to commemorate the beginning of Black History Month.
• Black Professionals Panel: Criminal Justice Panel (free and open to the public): 12-1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, Cafeteria. Discover what Black history means to Atlantic City Police Department captains as they discuss how they personally endured obstacles. A Q&A session will follow. Light refreshments will be served.
• Black Professionals Panel: Women in Healthcare (free and open to the public): 12-1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, Cafeteria. A panel featuring a clinical nurse manager, ACNO associate chief nurse officer and a doctor is respiratory therapy will speak to what Black history means to them and how they overcame challenges. A Q&A session will follow. Light refreshments will be served.
• Black History Month Student Essay Contest: 12-1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, Cafeteria. Students may submit an essay on one of three topics (How can you use your voice or action to fight against racism? What is a book by a Black author you would like to read and why? How can celebrating Black History Month help us understand America better?) Essays must be a minimum of 500 words and take five minutes or less to read aloud. Limited only to the first 12 students to submit. Light refreshments will be served.
Cape May County Campus
• Black History Month Information Table and Giveaway: Monday - Friday, Feb. 3-28. First-floor lobby. Learn important Black history facts and enter to win a giveaway bag of Black history-themed items.
• Black History Month Scavenger Hunt: Monday - Friday, Feb. 3-28, first floor lobby. Take part in this fun event and pick up your list of clues at the front desk. Complete the hunt and submit your findings to the front desk for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
• Black History Month Trivia: 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Room 312. Join in on a game of Black History Month Trivia for the opportunity to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
• Virtual Museum Tour and Soul Food-Inspired Lunch (first come, first served): 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, Cafeteria. Enjoy a virtual tour of the Museum of the American Revolution’s “Black Founders” exhibit with a soul food-inspired lunch.
• Erasing Bias from the Classroom with Janis Washington White (free and open to the public, but registration required. RSVP at bit.ly/ErasingBiasEvent): This presentation, sponsored by the Coalition for a Safe Community, will tackle the issue of removing all forms of racial bias in our school classrooms today.
Black History Month began in 1925 as Negro History Week and 51 years later, in 1976, during the nation’s bicentennial, President Gerald R. Ford asked Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
For more information on Black History Month events at Atlantic Cape this February, please visit atlanticcape.edu/bhmevents.