Celebrating diversity

Events in February honor Black History Month

The Walla Walla University annual Black History Month celebration will kick off on Thursday, Feb. 2, with a weekend of guest speakers, performances, great food, and music.

Home cooking in the caf
Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. in the WWU dining hall, Sandra Williams, WWU food service director, will serve some of her favorite meals from childhood, including mac and cheese, fried okra, cornbread, fresh collard greens, jerk tofu, and peach and apple cobbler. During the meal, the Black Student Christian Forum (BSCF) will host an open mic.

Friday night vespers
The BSCF will host Friday night vespers at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3, in the University Church. Vespers will feature the Berean praise team; the spoken word by Timothy Golden, WWU professor of philosophy; and “sign dancing” by WWU alumnus Amber Fidel. Wayne Butler will speak about his recently completed project for which he wrote 366 gospel songs—one a day for a year. Butler will also perform some of his compositions and will share thoughts about the meaning of the songs.

Black History Sabbath
Emil Peeler, senior pastor of the Capitol Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church in Washington, D.C., will speak on Saturday, Feb. 4, in the Walla Walla University Church for FirstServe at 9:20 a.m. and for the second service at 11:30 a.m. Peeler will present a different sermon for each service. The second service will begin 15 minutes earlier than the customary time in order to accommodate an extended gospel praise music service. Timothy Golden will speak between the two church services for Sabbath School at 10:30 a.m. in the University Church sanctuary.

Total Praise: Festival of Choirs
On Sabbath, Feb. 4, at 4 p.m., the University Church will host the Total Praise: Festival of Choirs concert. The concert will feature guest choirs from around the Pacific Northwest, from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, and beyond, as well as the WWU University Singers in a lively showcase of gospel music.

Black History CommUnity
On Tuesday, Feb. 14, WWU will present its annual Black History CommUnity program. This weekly gathering of the WWU student body will feature Timothy Golden performing a preview of the one-man play “Thurgood.” Golden will perform the full play live at the Donnie Rigby Black Box Theatre on the WWU campus on Feb. 16, 18, and 19 at 7:30 p.m.

“Black History Month celebrates African American art and culture, positive things that we have brought to the country,” says Pedrito Maynard-Reid, WWU professor of biblical studies and missiology and assistant to the president for diversity. “This country is rich because of the variety of cultures we have here. We would like everybody to celebrate with us.”

All events are free and open to the public.

Posted February 2, 2017