United Black Association Timeline

UNITED BLACK ASSOCIATION'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2020
By DEJA MCCLELLAN ‘20
EDITOR

Volume 1, Issue 2

2.3.20 – The N Word Panel

Dr. RL Watson presented information about the history of the N-word, complete with modern day examples. The panel of five students of different backgrounds answered several questions about their personal use of the word, how the word has affected them in personal and educational settings, and how they feel about non-black people's use of the word.

2.7.20 – Movie Showing: Dear White People

The United Black Association (UBA) hosted a movie showing of Dear White People (2014). Dear White People is a film that covers a campus unraveling at the seams due to underlying racial tensions that come to a head at an offensive Halloween party.

2.10.20 – Cultural Appropriation Panel

Panelists discussed the implications of cultural appropriation and how to combat it.

2.13.20 – Soulful Soup: E’mon Lauren

E’mon Lauren was a guest speaker to talk about her queerness, black womanhood identity, and her career as a poet. E’mon Lauren was named Chicago’s first Youth Poet Laureate and uses poetry and playwriting to explore a philosophy of hood womanism. Her first chapbook, Commando was released in 2017.

2.14.20 – Black Love

Black Love was an event held on Valentine’s Day by UBA. The event featured a night of creatives expressing themselves through poetry, with the special guest Harold Green. Harold performs original poetry, including an entire improvised piece made from words chosen by the audience.

2.16.20 – History and Soul

UBA hosted an outing to visit the DuSable Museum of African American History. The outing completed as the participants enjoyed soul food from Pearl's Place.

2.18.20 – Black Identity Panel

The Black Identity Panel was a panel discussing the question "What does it mean to be black?" Being black is not comprised of one singular identity, and several panelists discussed their experience navigating the world as a person of color with all of their accompanying identities. 

2.22.20 – Winter Gala

In collaboration with the Student Government and Student Programming Board, UBA co-hosted this year’s Winter Gala at Joe’s Live in Rosemont,IL.

2.24.20 – Conversation on Leadership with Claire Babineaux-Fontenot

In collaboration with the Lake Forest College Departments of English and Theater, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, Women in Biz, and the Career Advancement Center, UBA co-hosted a talk by Claire Babineaux-Fontenot about leadership. Claire Babineaux-Fontenot oversees Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization and second-largest U.S. charity according to Forbes.

2.29.20 – Juke Jam

UBA ended Black History Month on a high note by hosting an All Campus Party based off of the classic Chicago parties. This event was a collaboration with the Lake Forest College, Student Programming Board.

In addition to the 10 events, UBA collaborated with Parkhurst to provide a selection of foods from the African diaspora each Thursday in February to bring cultural awareness to the campus. The schedule of foods provided are below:

2.6.20 – Soul Food Inspired

2.13.20 – Caribbean inspired

2.20.20 – Latinx Inspired

2.27.20 – African Inspired