Month Long Celebration of Black History Month

All events are free and open to the public as Xavier invites everyone to join them in this month of celebrating Black history to show how far the university has come in the last 100 years and invigorate everyone for what will come in the next 100. The celebration will conclude with the unveiling of a statue on February 24 at 11:30 a.m. in Xavier's Convocation Center, designed in honor of one of its most prominent and celebrated alumnus, former president of the university, Dr. Norman C. Francis (‘52). RSVPs for the statue unveiling need to be made to Nanette Smith, director of advancement operations at Xavier, at either (504) 520-6784 or nsmith11@xula.edu.

To kick off the festivities, a performance by Xavier’s Department of Art and Performances called “Fish, Grits, and Other Southern Things” will occur February 8-9 in the McCaffery Ballroom on the third floor of the University Center at 6 p.m.. The free show, which will feature song, poetry, and storytelling, is about the history of African American cuisine in the South and will highlight the importance of various cooking traditions in the Southern community and the prominent aspects of slavery and immigration that helped shape those iconic Southern dishes.

The annual campus-wide Youth Motivational Task Force (YMTF) event will be held on February 19-20. Professionals from various fields, including Xavier alums, will be on campus at multiple events and discussions, offering insight, mentorship, and support to current Xavierites over the two-day event. A full schedule will be available soon.

On February 19, the university is hosting The Rudy Lombard Symposium on Civil Rights lecture at 6 p.m. in the College of Pharmacy Auditorium. The late Dr. Rudy Lombard ('61) is a renowned civil rights icon, and the symposium is held in his honor. In 1960, Lombard was contacted by civil rights strategist Marvin Robinson who advised him that a Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) member, James T. McCain, intended to establish a branch in New Orleans. By September of the same year, the then Vice-President Lombard had planned two sit-ins in protest of the rigid color lines demarcated by Jim Crow laws across the segregated South. But it was the second protest, held at McCrory’s five-and-dime store, that earned both Lombard and the New Orleans CORE branch national recognition.

The opening reception for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Exhibition “Lighting the Path” will be held on February 19 in the Art Gallery, located on the first floor of the Administration Building, at 5 p.m. Xavier's foundress, St. Katharine Drexel, also founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and the order has been intertwined with Xavier's great legacy since the moment that St. Katharine set her sights on creating a place where everyone, no matter their race, could receive a quality education.

On February 20, at 12:15 p.m. in the Xavier Convocation Center the university will host its annual Black History Month Convocation. More details are to come.