Taubman College is hosting its first-ever Black History Month programming as part of a student-led effort to increase representation and visibility within the college. Naomi Bailey, M.U.R.P. ’25, was helped by a team of students including Jon Kent, Lawson Schultz, Chelsea Hampton, Tre’Nard Morgan, Marcellous Weaver, and Kenyatta Washington, to organize a series of professional chats and movie nights.
After pitching the idea in September, the students worked with Nyanatee Bailey, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to organize a series of events that would appeal to students from both Taubman College and the Stamps School of Art and Design. They ultimately decided on a series of fireside chats and movie nights that addressed issues in the Black community.
Naomi Bailey said she wanted to emphasize intimacy and relaxation with the events. The first fireside chat was about city and neighborhood design and featured a variety of Black planning professionals who address systemic inequities and historical erasure. The movie nights will follow certain themes, including gentrification, food insecurity, and criminal justice.
Naomi Bailey said it was important to speak up and organize events this month to create representation for Black students on campus.
“We attend a predominately white institution, so there are not a lot of African American students in Taubman or Stamps,” she said. “So there’s not a lot of representation. Sometimes we feel unseen and unheard, but when we’re in these classes, African American history is at the forefront of the conversation, and oftentimes this history doesn’t show the good of African Americans. Bringing this to the forefront, that we do have students of color who want to do this work, lets us shine a positive light on them so that they can feel proud to be in this building.”
Taubman College will host two more film nights – on February 17 and 24 at 6 p.m. in room 1360 – and a final fireside chat on February 19 at 6:30 pm in the Taubman Commons. The college will conduct a closing ceremony on February 26.
