Boys N the Hood Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Friday, January 30th at 8:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public) 1991. USA. Dir: John Singleton. 112 min. (Free).  Boys N the Hood follows the lives of three young men living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.

The Ubuntu Storytellers

Event Time and Date: Tuesday, February 3rd, from 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Wallingford Public Library (website)

Event Organizers: The Wallingford Public Library 

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) Ubuntu Storytellers Present “The Long Echo of a Moment”: The Ubuntu Storytellers, an ensemble of performance artists from across the Black Diaspora, are joined by guests who will tell personal stories of allyship. Contemporary stories of needing an ally, of being an ally and of the second guessing that sometimes comes after. Sponsored by the NewAlliance Foundation in New Haven, CT. This is a hybrid program; patrons have the option of attending in-person at the library or virtually on Zoom. Guests may register through this link (link).

BHM Trivia

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 5th, from 12:00noon - 1:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Resource Center (167 High Street)

Event Organizers: BIPOC Connection (CAPS) and The Resource Center

Event Description: (attendance open to students only) An interactive Black History Month trivia game with lunch provided and the opportunity to connect with community and learn about Black history.

Diane Weiss Memorial Lecture, C. Riley Snorton: Plant Pedagogy and Peripheral Movements

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 5th, from 4:30pm - 6:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Judd Hall 116

Event Organizers: Department of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Event Description: (attendance open to the public) C. Riley Snorton explores trans ecological practices of becoming in territories defined as hostile environments for human life. In close engagement with the films, Uyra: The Rising Forest (Dir. Curi, 2022), an experimental documentary set in the Amazon forest and the northern Brazilian municipality of Manaus, and Neptune Frost (Dirs. Uzeyman and Williams, 2022), an Afrofuturist musical set in a coltan mining site and an e-waste dump in the hilltops of Burundi, Snorton traces a mycorrhizal network among “pioneer species” plant life and people across the racial capitalocene. Moving through questions of form and aesthetics, social and ecological constructions of difference, and matters of praxis in both films, this talk dwells with the pedagogical life of plants and the motility of peripheries.  

The Black Atlantic: Religion, slavery, and the formation of a new world

Event Time and Date: This course will meet Mondays in February  2/9, 2/16, 2/23 and March 2 from 4:30pm - 6:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: The Wasch Center (51 Lawn Avenue)

Event Organizers: Wasch Center for Lifelong Learning

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public)  During Black Heritage Month, The Wasch Center for Lifelong Learning will offer the following four-week seminar, “The Black Atlantic: Religion, slavery, and the formation of a new world.” As the United States celebrates its Semiquincentennial, this course uses the categories of race and religion to examine the nation’s emergence. It places Black people and their religious practices at the center of the story of the making of the United States and the Americas. The “Black Atlantic,” a concept introduced by the scholar Paul Gilroy, proposes that Blacks were not passive actors; indeed, enslaved and free Africans in the Americas helped shape the new world, and the U.S.  The class is open to the public for a modest fee. Current Wesleyan students are invited to audit the course only. Community members who want to register please email Elizabeth Moemeka at emoemeka@wesleyan.edu. 

19th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commeoration Luncheon

Event Time and Date: Tuesday, February 10th, 2025 at 12:00pm E.T

Event Location/Zoom Information: Beckham Hall 

Event Organizers: Office for Equity and Inclusion

Event Description: (attendance open to the public, RSVP Link) At the start of every Spring semester we come together as a community to honor the civil rights legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.  This year, the Wesleyan community is invited to attend a luncheon with a keynote address given by nationally recognized leader in social entrepreneurship and economic justice, Erik M. Clemons (website).  If you have any questions about the event, please contact Ashly White at awhite04@wesleyan.edu.

Ebony Ball

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 14th, from 8:00pm - 11:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Russell House

Event Organizers: Ujamaa BSU

Event Description: (attendance open to students only) Ebony Ball is a celebration of Black culture and community. There will be food, community and music. 

Black Orpheus Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 14th, at 8:00pm ET

Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public) 1959. USA. Dir: Marcel Camus. 100 min. (Free).  A retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.

Highlighting our Local BIPOC Food Producers

Event Time and Date: Monday, February 16th, from 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Usdan info desks (45 Wyllys Avenue, by first floor main stairwell)

Event Organizers: Sustainability Office

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public)  Come meet a local BIPOC grocer at Wesleyan and learn about the vital work she does connecting products from small BIPOC-owned farms directly to consumers.

Facing the Caribbean: Carnival Mask Making

Event Time and Date: Wednesday, February 18th, 5:30pm - 7:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Usdan 108

Event Organizers: The Resource Center

Event Description:  (attendance open to students only) Join us for Facing the Caribbean, an evening of creativity, culture, and connection at The Resource Center.  Come make and decorate Carnival-inspired masquerade masks while celebrating Caribbean culture, independence, and creativity. As we craft, we’ll also share stories and reflect on the histories, achievements, and contributions of Caribbean nations, past and present.  Whether you identify as Caribbean or want to learn more, this is a welcoming space to create, connect, and celebrate together.  Light refreshments provided.  All are welcome!

Celebrating Black Art: Highlights from the Davison Art Collection

Event Date and Time: Thursday, February 19th, 12noon - 1:00pm

Event Location / Zoom Information:  DAC study room, Olin Library lower level

Event Organizers:  The Davison Art Collection and Wesleyan Art History Program

Brief Description:  (attendance open to the public)  Join us for a viewing of Black artworks from the Davison Art Collection. This event highlights works by Black artists including Kara Walker, Howardena Pindell, and Martin Puryear and invites students to look closely, learn, and appreciate the unique pieces that the Collection has to offer.

Drylongso Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 19th at 8:00pm ET

Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public) 1998. USA. Dir: Cauleen Smith. 86 min. (Free).  Drylongso follows a woman in a photography class who begins taking pictures of black men out of fear they will soon be extinct.

The Wiz Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Friday, February 20th at 8:00pm ET

Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public) 1978. USA. Dir: Sidney Lumet. 134 min. (Free).  When Harlem schoolteacher Dorothy is miraculously whisked away to an urban fantasy land called Oz, she goes in search of the Wiz, a wizard who can help her get back to Manhattan, along with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.

Jubilee

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 21st, from 7:30pm - 10:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Memorial Chapel

Event Organizers: Ujamaa BSU

Event Description: (attendance open to the public)  Jubilee is a celebration of the arts. There will be student groups performing song, dance and other talents.

Waacking with Tyrone Bevans

Event Time and Date:  Monday, February 23, 2026 (workshop at 7:00pm, dance party at 8:00pm)

Event Location/Zoom Information:  Psi Upsilon (242 High Street)

Event Organizers: CFA and Psi Upsilon (Rani Arbo and Ry de Guzman)

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public)  Unleash your inner diva and join us for a high-energy Waacking workshop and dance party with NYC-based dancer and choreographer Tyrone Bevans. Born in the 1970s LGBTQ disco club scene in LA, Waacking is all about striking a pose and putting your fabulousness in the spotlight — with exuberance, confidence, and deep connection to the music. Come for the workshop and stay for the dance. No experience necessary!   Tyrone Bevans is a dancer and sound/visual artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Raised in the Bronx, he received his early training from Martha Graham school of Contemporary Dance and the Mark Morris Dance Center. He is currently dancing for Princess Lockeroo’s Fabulous Waack Dancers and Joya Powell’s Movement of the People Dance Company.

Julius Eastman Listening Party and Conversation

Event Time and Date: Thursday, February 26th, from 12:30pm - 2:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: World Music Hall

Event Organizers: Omri Riss Chbarbi and The Resource Center

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public) Julius Eastman Listening Party and Conversation. Julius Eastman was a queer Black composer whose music and ideas were marginalized during his lifetime, and only recently has his work started to reach wider audiences. Even today, it’s still under-listened-to and under-discussed. This 1.5–2 hour session is a chance to experience Eastman’s music and voice together, with short contextual notes from archival research to spark conversation. The focus is on listening closely, sharing impressions, and exploring his compositional ideas, rather than presenting a definitive story about his life or work.

Reviving Our Roots

Event Time and Date: Friday, February 27th, 2026 from 5:30-7:30 PM 

Event Location/Zoom Information: Russell House

Event Organizers: WesQuisqueya

Event Description: (attendance open to Wesleyan community only)  This event is an inclusive space to explore how culture, heritage, and identity shape the sense of belonging of people from the African diaspora. Over a shared meal, we will host guided questions and open conversations that highlight the diverse experiences within our communities. This event aims to educate, build connection, and create understanding across cultural backgrounds while celebrating the stories that shape who we are. The catered meal centers Black History Month by honoring shared African roots and the many ways Black communities across the diaspora express culture through food, while welcoming people of all backgrounds into a shared space of learning, reflection, and connection.

35 Shots of Rum Film Screening

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 28th at 8:00pm ET

Event Location/Zoom Information: Goldsmith Family Cinema at the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies (aka CFS100)

Event Organizers: Wesleyan Film Board and the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM)

Event Description:  (attendance open to the public) 2008. USA. Dir: Claire Denis. 100 min. (Free).  The relationship between a father and daughter is complicated by the arrival of a handsome young man.

Black Haircare Workshop

Event Time and Date: Saturday, February 28, at 3:00pm

Event Location/Zoom Information: Malcolm X House Basement 

Event Organizers: Ujamaa BSU