Campus News

It’s Saturday night in March and there’s a pulsating glow spilling from the windows of the Root Room in Carnegie Building. Inside, rows of spectators line the perimeter of a long narrow stage. Oberlin’s most anticipated fashion show begins as cheers swell when models, draped in creative attire, take their turn down the walk. This is a signature event during Black History Month. It also serves as inspiration for this week’s photo series.

Eboni Johnson, outreach and programming librarian, holds a hand to her ear as a student across the room reads literature written by bell hooks. The public read-in at Mudd Center’s academic commons honors this prolific writter during Women’s History Month. It also serves as inspiration for this week’s photo series.

Business jackets paired with Bermuda shorts, stylish sleepwear, pillow accessories, paper dresses, and contemporary designs were just some of the creative pieces worn at this year’s Black History Month Fashion Show.

Black influencers in the culinary world will be honored with dishes that reflect their work in a Black History Month dinner later this month.

Author Ishmael Beah ’04 returned to Oberlin College in 2010 to discuss the publication of his New York Times best-selling book, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Four years later Beah’s visit to Finney Chapel took place after the publication of Radiance of Tomorrow, A Novel, which would go on to become another best-seller. Beah’s visits to campus serve as inspiration for this week’s photo series.

A student re-enactment of escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad is recognized 40 years later with a visit by participant Herman Beavers ’81 at Third World House.

In this photo series, we walk with the dinosaurs in Cleveland and visit a congressional intern in Washington, D.C., before coming back home to Oberlin to watch the Wild Beast of the Bungalow take over the stage in Warner Concert Hall; go snowboarding in Hales Gym; and sit in on a gallery talk, book art class, choir practice, an academic retreat, and a dance performance.

The monthlong tribute, themed Liberation is This, includes 26 programs, performances, and talks that shine a light on the black experience.

Monthlong tribute themed “Sankofa: Go Back and Get It” includes a broad array of programs, performances, and talks to highlight the black experience in America.