Duke Student Affairs

Duke Student Affairs
Black History Month 2026
Belonging
Identity and Cultural Centers
Mary Lou Williams Center For Black Culture
Programs + Events
Black History Month 2026
Mary Lou Williams Center
Black History Month 2026
Welcome to The Lou
Summer Hours: Monday - Friday: 9am- 5pm Physical Location: 101 Flowers Building
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2026
in collaboration with the Center for Multicultural Affairs
A Century of Black History Commemorations
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History presents....
The 2026 Black History Month theme,
A Century of Black History Commemorations
, focuses on
Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Moorland, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps institutionalizing the teaching, study, dissemination, and commemoration of Black history when they founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) on September 9, 1915.
To learn more about the National theme visit their website
here
Calendar of Events
Event
Date & Time
Location
Host(s)
Link (if applicable)
MLWC: The Legacy of Malcom X with Dr. Adriene Lentz-Smith
Feb. 3rd
5:30-7pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Register Here
Wisdom & Wellness
Feb. 4th
12-2pm
Department of Population Health Sciences Classroom A, Imperial Building
Hurtson-James Society
Register Here
Jazz @
Feb. 4th
9-11pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
DUU
N/A
First Friday
Feb. 6th
11-1pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture & Center for Multicultural Affairs
Register Here
Superbowl Watch Party (NO x QZ)
Feb. 8th
5-10pm
Hollows B 3rd Floor Common Room
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Register Here
Cook Awards Dinner
Feb. 9th
5-7pm
Invitation Only
N/A
African American Read-In
Feb. 10th
11am-1pm
Perk Café Patio (next to the Saladelia Cafe in Perkins Library)
Thompson Writing Program and Duke University Libraries
Register Here
Unmasked. Unbothered. Unapologetic.
Feb. 11th
5-7pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Register Here
Brother's Gathering
Feb. 10th
6-8pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Register Here
Black Mental Health & Wellness
Feb. 12th
6-7pm
Wellness Center (RM 144)
NAACP
N/A
Protect Your Crown: A Natural Hair Event
Feb. 16th
4:30-6pm
Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSDG - BC 100)
Edens Quad
Register Here
Black History Month Lecture with Ilyasah Shabazz
Feb. 17th
6-9pm
Penn Pavilion
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Register Here
Speed Friending
Feb. 19th
6-8pm
Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity
BLQ
N/A
Changing Roles of Black Women in Politics
Feb. 19th
6-7:30pm
TBD
Lillian's List
N/A
Black Excellence Game: Women's Basketball Game
Feb. 19th
7pm
Cameron Indoor Stadium
Women's Basketball Team and Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Purchase Tickets Here
Black Policy Conference
Feb. 19th- Feb. 21st
Sanford School of Public Policy
Black Policy Student Association
N/A
LQZ Wild N Owt
Feb. 21st
7pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Register Here
Sweet TreatZ and Affirmations
Feb. 23rd
1-4pm
Tabling at West Bus Stop
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
N/A
Many Roots: Four Year Threads
Feb. 24th
5-6:30pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Register Here
Black History Month Dinner
Feb. 25th
5-9pm
Marketplace: East Campus Wall Center
Duke Dining Services
N/A
Blood Drive
Feb. 26th
11am-5pm
Wellness Center
NAACP
N/A
Know Your Rights As a Duke Student: Dixon v. Alabama
Feb. 26th
11am-1pm
Wellness Center Rm 147
Dean of Students
N/A
Grad Pro Series: Game Night
Feb. 26th
6-8pm
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, Black Seminarian Union, & BGPSA
Register Here
Advocacy 101
Feb. 26th
6-8pm
Keohane Atrium
Black Student Alliance
N/A
NSBE x Mitchell White House BHM Movie Night
Feb. 27th
7pm
Keohane Atrium
Duke NSBE & Mitchell White House
Register Here
BHM SpeakeaZy
Feb. 27th
9pm-12am
MLWC Programming Space - Lower Level
Jazz@, Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, & Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
N/A
Most of the events listed will be able to be found on
DukeGroups
! Some of these events may also have a "Black History Month" tag on the platform. For more on Black History Month, email marylou@duke.edu.
More
Black History Month is a celebration of all aspects of Black culture and the diaspora during the month of February. Originally founded as Negro History Week in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson and his organization the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), the second week of February was chosen because of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The celebration was later expanded to a month in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial. That year, fifty years after the first celebration, the association held the first African American History Month. A theme is chosen every year by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History as a guiding principle for the month's celebrations. The theme for 2024 is African Americans and the Arts. The Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture centralizes the efforts of student Black affinity organizations during the month of February for celebrating the history and culture of Black people in America. Throughout the month, discussions will be held addressing relevant issues of the day.
Submitted resources
Qwest TV EDU
- a video streaming channel created by Quincy Jones and showcasing Black music and global sounds. Features a wide range of musical genres and styles, including jazz, the blues, soul, funk, world music, electronic music, classical music, and much more.
HistoryMakers Digital Archive View
- features oral history video interviews with thousands of historically significant African Americans. Discover Black painters, musicians, actors, dancers, playwrights, filmmakers, sculptors, and others in the arts.
The Nasher Museum presents '
María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Behold,'
a monographic exhibition of a visionary voice in photography, immersive installation, painting and performance. The first multimedia survey of the artist’s work since 2007, 'Behold' highlights the artist’s dedication to creating new modes of understanding, as well as her engagement with interconnected historical and present-day challenges. These themes are examined through Campos-Pons’s performance-based practice and centering of Yoruba-derived Santería symbolism, as well as her work with communities in Boston, Cuba, Italy and Nashville (her current residence). The exhibition will be on view, February 15 – June 09, 2024.
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Black Student Affinity Space
The Center for Multicultural Affairs & the Identity and Cultural Centers
Duke Black Alumni (DBA)
100 Collegiate Black Men/ @duke100bm
Black Law Student Association/ @dukelawblsa
Black Pre-Law Society/ @dukepbls
Black Student Alliance/ @dukebsa
Black Women's Union/ @duke_bwu
Duke Africa/ @duke.africa
Duke Ethiopian/Eritrean Student Transnational Association(DESTA)/ @dukedesta
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP)/ @dukenaacp
Minority Association of Premedical Students/ @dukemaps
Nakisai African Dance Ensemble/ @dukenakisaiade
National PanHellenic Council(NPHC)/ @dukenphc
National Society of Black Engineers(NSBE)/ @dukensbe
Students of the Caribbean Association(SOCA)/ @dukesoca
United Black Athletes/ @duke.uba
United in Praise/ @duke_unitedinpraise
The organizations listed here aren't the only Black diasporic-identified/affiliated organizations! Find these organizations on Duke Groups or Instagram! Want your organization to be added to this list or need to make an edit? Please email
mikala.king@duke.edu
Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Center for Multicultural Affairs
Plaza Banner Facts
Have you seen the lightpole banners on the Plaza (as of Feb. 1) and want to learn more about the person, group, or event highlighted? Click on each topic below to expand and learn more.
Source:
Duke Chronicle article from January 21, 2022
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Durham’s Black Wall Street housed a vibrant and successful variety of Black-owned businesses. A set of four blocks on Parrish Street, Black Wall Street served as a hub for Black Americans and was a thriving commercial area with tailors, barbers, drugstores and more. It
put Durham on the map
as the capital of the Black middle class in America, and the Bull City became nationally renowned for
fostering Black entrepreneurship
“Durham was known as the ‘mecca of the Black South’ because so much attention was paid to Durham’s economy,” said Paul Scott, founder of the Durham-based Black Messiah Movement and an activist who has worked to raise awareness about Black history in Durham.
Black Wall Street flourished during the Reconstruction era, at a time of racial tension and systematic discrimination against Black Americans.
The success of Black Wall Street was fueled by the efforts of two businesses that remain today: NC Mutual Life Insurance Company and Mechanics & Farmers Bank.
Today, NC Mutual Life Insurance Company is the
largest Black-owned insurance business
in the world. M&F Bank is the second oldest minority-owned bank in the United States and was also the
first Black-owned bank
in Durham.
Dr. Samuel Cook - First Black tenured faculty member joined Duke in 1966
Cook is Duke’s first black tenured professor, joining the faculty in 1966, three years after the university’s student body desegregated. He is also the first African American to hold a regular faculty appointment at any predominantly white college or university in the South. A graduate of Morehouse College, he was classmates with Martin Luther King, Jr. He later became the president of Dillard University, a historically black university in New Orleans. Now retired, Duke honors his legacy annually with an awards banquet.
BSA, Black Student Alliance was established in 1967 and promotes
academic achievement and intellectual pursuit, cultivates dynamic leadership, and strives to eliminate social barriers for all.
Learn more about BSA
Source:
Duke Libraries
On February 13, 1969, between 50 and 75 Duke University students (many of whom were members of the Afro-American Society) occupied the Allen Building (Duke's main administration building) to bring attention to the needs of African-American students. These needs included an African-American studies department, a black student union, protection from police harassment, and increased enrollment and financial support for black students.
The students remained barricaded in the Allen Building for most of the day, leaving sometime after 5:00 PM after an ultimatum from the Duke administration. Although their exit was peaceful, a large crowd of mostly white students had gathered outside the building during the day, and this crowd and the police became entangled. The police fired tear gas on the students, prompting further campus protests.
In March, after discussions between the Afro-American Society and the administration over the development of the African-American Studies program ended in disagreement, Duke students and their supporters marched in downtown Durham. Dozens of Duke's African-American students threatened to leave campus to attend the Malcolm X Liberation University, a newly-developed school led by community activist Howard Fuller. On March 19, 1969, a University Hearing Committee found the students who had occupied the Allen Building guilty of violating university regulations. All defendants were sentenced to one year of probation.
This powerful demonstration became known as the Allen Building Takeover.
Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke becomes the first Black woman to have a campus building named after her on September 24, 2020.