Black RSOs share how they celebrate Black History Month

Now that Black History Month is upon us, Black Registered Student Organizations (RSO) are hosting a variety of events all month to get people involved in the celebration.

NaTrel Williams, the public relations chair for Black Affairs Council (BAC), said it is great that different Black RSOs are actively involved.

“A lot of people have a lot of events that [are] included for everybody, so I feel that [it] was a good thing […] it’s giving everybody the platform and the space to do any event that they feel fit for Black History Month,” Williams said.

He said, while it is important Black RSOs come together during this month, it is even more important that they come together all year.

“They want to celebrate us. But I feel it’s no different than any other month because we always try to support […] We celebrate [Black History Month] all throughout the year,” Williams said.

Williams said for the Black student population at SIU, Black history cannot be all packed into one month, because there is so much regarding history that needs to be talked about.

Ameera Fowler, a third-year student and a member of Essence Fashion Models, said her RSO is all about allowing people to express themselves through fashion.

“Essence fashion models is a modeling group that is all about inclusion and freedom of expression when it comes to fashion and anything that has to do with that,” she said. “A lot of times we make our own clothes, style people and model people. We also have people on our team that [do] other things such as lashes, hair, nails, and a wide variety of things.”

Fowler said Essence is still working on details of its Black History Month event, but it will be free, where people can come and get together and meet new people.

She said with SIU being a Predominantly White Institution (PWI), it is a good thing to see all the Black RSOs on campus celebrate Black history.

“I love to see, because at the end of the day, being Black and going to a predominately white school, a lot of times we get overlooked and under service so, I think when people are taking that initiative to do things, it reflects positively on everybody,” Fowler said.

No matter what your race is, people should take part in this month, because they can learn new things about a culture and how to be involved with different groups, she said.

Black RSOs, Greek Organizations and more will be hosting Black History Month events throughout the month of February from discussions to movie nights and more.

“I just love Black History Month because it’s just a time where everybody actually gets together,” Williams said.

Staff reporter Janiyah Gaston can be reached at [email protected] or on Instagram @janiyah_reports. To stay up to date with all your Southern Illinois News follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.

Tags: Janiyah Gaston, Daily Egyptian, SIUC, NaTrel Williams, Ameera Fowler, Black RSOs, Black History Month, Black Affairs Council, Discussions, Black Resource Center, Africana Theater Lab, Essence Fashion Models

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