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Carolina celebrates Black History Month

The annual African American History Month Lecture will headline this year's events. Journalist, educator and activist Charles E. Cobb will be the keynote speaker of the virtual lecture on Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Black History Month at UNC-Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will celebrate Black History Month with various events throughout February, including lectures, panels and performances.

The annual African American History Month Lecture will headline this year’s events. Journalist, educator and activist Charles E. Cobb will be the keynote speaker of the virtual lecture on Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. The lecture is a tradition that brings leading scholars and activists whose work centers on African Americans’ lives from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

Cobb was a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists and a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In the 1960s, Cobb proposed the creation of Freedom Schools — free, temporary schools established in Mississippi that were designed to empower Black middle and high school students. Nearly 40 Freedom Schools were established.

This year’s highlights also include:

  • The School of Education’s Black History Month Conversation Series, which centers on the theme of “Remembering our past; Focused on our future.” The series will feature a different speaker every Thursday at 11 a.m.
  • A reading of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective’s “All the Songs We Sing” anthology on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. The anthology celebrates the 25th anniversary of the campus group.
  • A reading and conversation with political activist Rev. William Barber II and North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green on Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
  • A performance by acclaimed actor and playwright Mike Wiley at the Friday Center on Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. The one-man play is a dramatization of the historical interviews and events surrounding the murder of Emmett Till.

Visit the University Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s website for a complete schedule and event registration information