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Today marks the first day of February and the first day of Black History Month. The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is celebrating the latter with a month worth of programming organized by the leaders and members of the African American Studies program, the Black Student Union and Academic Support of Inclusive Excellence.

“This year our theme for Black History Month is Black Resistance and Restorative Justice,” said Alphonso Simpson, director of UW Oshkosh’s African American Studies program. “We are urging the campus community to not only remember but to reflect and respond to the spirit of our campus-wide theme.”

Centerpiece event: The third annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration and Awards Program, set for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Reeve Union theater (Room 307).

  • The featured speaker is alumnus Shawn Anthony Robinson. He’s the co-creator of the graphic novel Doctor Dyslexia Dude, based on his own journey through education with dyslexia. Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree in human services from UWO in 2002, before earning a master’s from DePaul University and a doctorate from Cardinal Stritch University.

Other activities:

  • Several movie screenings are planned: Rosewood (Feb. 6), Glory (Feb. 13), Amistad (Feb. 20), Malcom X (Feb. 24) and Till (Feb. 27).
  • Discussions and lectures include The Exchange in White America: Kaukauna and King 50 Years Later with assistant African American studies professor Denae Powell; “Black Folk Are Just Built Different”: Mental Health in the Black Community with Simpson and George Washington Williams’ “Bitter Disappointment:” An African American’s Observations on Imperialism in the Congo, 1890 with history department chair Michael Rutz.
  • There also are dances and dance classes, open gyms, church services, trivia contests, Black student gatherings and much more.

The full calendar of Black History Month events is available here.

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