Early Bird

Events to inspire discussion, debate and solidarity

MSU Denver celebrates Black History Month with Black World Conference, a critical conversation on race and more.

By Lindsey Coulter

February 5, 2019

36^th Annual Black World Conference

Hosted by Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Department of Africana Studies, the Black World Conference is the department’s signature Black History Month event. This year, the conference will feature a keynote address by Praise Zenenga, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Africana Studies Program for the University of Arizona, Tuscon. Zenenga will speak to this year’s theme of “Performing Politics: Elections, Succession and Democratic Processes in Africa.” The event is free and open to the public.

Feb. 13-14

9:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m.

Keynote address at 11 a.m.

St. Cajetan’s Event Center

An Afternoon with Wanuri Kahiu

Wanuri Kahiu (pictured here) is an award-winning artist and filmmaker who shatters conventional thinking about representation in African culture by celebrating art that’s made for the simple joy of it. Kahiu creates work in her very own genre, which she’s coined “AfroBubbleGum”: an aesthetic mash-up of Marvel’s Black Panther and the candy store of your dreams. Kahiu shows why “fun, fierce and frivolous African art” is a political act because seeing African citizens as healthy, financially stable and fun-loving emphasizes their humanity in crucial, refreshing and much-needed ways. 

Feb. 18

Noon-1:30 p.m.

Doors open at 11 a.m.

St. Cajetan’s Event Center

Sponsored by the Black Student Alliance, the Center for Multicultural Excellence and Inclusion, the Center for Equity and Student Achievement, the Student Government Assembly and the Office of the Vice President Office of Student Affairs.

Critical Discussion on Race

The event will include lunch and a screening of the film “The Hate U Give” followed by a panel discussion on themes presented in the film.

Sponsored by the Black Student Alliance, the Center for Multicultural Excellence and Inclusion and the Center for Equity and Student Achievement.

Feb. 27

11 a.m.-2 p.m.

St. Cajetan’s Event Center

See the full Black History Month event schedule.