Tuesday, February 1 — Tuesday, March 1
February is Black History Month
About Black History Month¹
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.
As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, like W. E. B. Du Bois before him, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American’s contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925.
The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was overwhelming: Black history clubs sprang up; teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils; and progressive whites, not simply white scholars and philanthropists, stepped forward to endorse the effort.
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Additional resources…
- npr: MPR News: Here’s the story behind Black History Month — and why it’s celebrated in February
- Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH): Why Black History Month!
- The White House: A Proclamation on National Black History Month, 2022
- History: Black History Month
- PBS: What to Watch: Black History Month
The following Inver Hills News story was originally published March 15, 2021.
Artist Spotlight: Oluwafisayo Ola
Nigerian native earning A.F.A. in Art
Oluwafisayo Ola, 20, started her higher education career at Inver Hills Community College spring semester 2021. Oluwafisayo is earning her Art Transfer Pathway Associate of Fine Arts (A.F.A.) in Art with plans to graduate in May 2023.
A 2019 graduate of Metro Deaf School, Oluwafisayo is leaning toward a career as an art therapist, a path that includes studying early childhood development.
“Art therapy combine my two biggest interests, art and working with children,” Oluwafisayo said. “Art therapy is for everyone of all ages, but I personally hope to work with children.”
Oluwafisayo added that she communicates in American Sign Language. “I do not ‘speak’ English, but I am learning it intensively so I can also communicate in standard English.”
Three words that describe you as an artist:
VISIONARY. LEARNER. COLORFUL.
More about Oluwafisayo…
After graduating from Inver Hills, Oluwafisayo would like to transfer to a four-year college. “But plans are made to be altered,” she said. “So, I am not too obstinate about this.”
Originally from Ado-Ekiti, a city of nearly 310,000 residents in the west African country of Nigeria, the world’s ninth most populous nation with more than 207 million people.
“I moved to the United States in 2013,” Oluwafisayo said. “I was thirteen at the time.”
Her favorite memory from her life in Nigeria is being around her cousins on her mother’s side. “We were all a group of ‘Heathers,’” she said. “My favorite place in Nigeria is Ondo State because this is where my cousins lived. Ondo State was where we all gathered in the summertime.”
Oluwafisayo has an older brother, Seyi, 22, and two younger sisters, Tomini, 17, and Bukunmi, 14. Her father, Ilesanmi, is an electrical engineer, and mother, Tolulope, is the executive director of a nonprofit organization. Tolulope also serves as a marriage and family therapist and a cultural healer. She is the author of the book, The Power to Become, and a researcher with a focus in breast cancer. The family had a cat named Bertha, but she moved out.
In her free time, Oluwafisayo enjoys drawing, painting, watching TV and chatting with friends. She resides with her family in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.
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Learn more about Diversity and Equity at Inver Hills by contacting:
Student Life
651-450-3530
College Center Room-116
