Planners Call for Increased Promotion of Black History Events After Trivia Night

      While a strong turnout of more than 50 students packed a University of North Texas ballroom for a recent Black History event, more people may have attended if they knew about the event, planners said.

      The University Program Council combined black history with a night of trivia and games in order to broaden students’ views about Black History Month. The event, dubbed ‘We Gone Be Alright: A Black History Learning Experience,’ was held in the Emerald Eagle

Ballroom on Monday, February 5.

      Nine teams, comprised of five students each,

competed in an epic trivia battle for the chance to

win a Keurig, an Amazon Echo, or a Kindle Firestick.

Students were also highly encouraged to take the

two hours, set aside for the event, to soak in and

learn as much black history as possible.

     “I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but I did

surprisingly,” said Nala Guidry, a UNT freshman.

“I laughed a lot and learned a lot.”

      Students engaged in games and activities for the first half of the evening, followed by a panel of student guest speakers who answered questions on the past, present, and future of Black History.

      Guidry said she enjoyed the emphasis on learning and celebrating her culture, as it has often been ignored by education systems in the United States.

      “I never understood what it meant to be black,” Guidry said. “It used to make me uncomfortable to say I’m black and I’m proud, but events like these really highlight the importance of owning your culture.”

      While the event itself had a turnout of approximately 50 students and faculty members, there were still students on campus that felt uninformed of the events happening during Black History Month.

      Gabbi Ramdhanny, event coordinator for We Gone Be Alright, said it’s important to organize educational events for people of color.

      “Tonight gave black students a forum to talk about what [Black History Month] means to them and also their struggles as an African American person,” Ramdhanny said. “But more importantly for non-black students to also be informed about what it means to be black.”

      Although the University Program Council at UNT tries to promote their events through social media platforms as well as using traditional flyers and calendars, some students on campus still feel uninformed when it comes to multicultural events.

      Sasha Chege, a freshman at UNT, said she had not seen any advertisements of Black History Month events occurring on campus.

      “There are organizations that hold meetings and try to discuss black history, and issues in the black community, but they don’t really go in depth,” Chege said. “I feel like they don’t really know what they’re talking about.”

      Ramdhanny said multicultural events take tremendous amounts of time and energy to plan, especially for UPC officers who coordinate multiple events at one time.

      “This event was created from scratch; it didn’t even have a title,” Ramdhanny said. “I just knew I was going to do an event on February 5 for Black History Month so it was definitely a challenge. But creating this dialogue between people of color is, and should always be, a priority.”

      ‘We Gone Be Alright’ is the only event UPC has organized for Black History Month. However, several on campus organizations such as the African Student Organization and Positive Black Student Organization, have set up small gatherings and meetings to celebrate Black History Month.