Gavilan College Celebrates Black History Month
by on Feb 5, 2018What: Gavilan College has invited several special guests to campus in honor of Black History Month. These student events will be taking place every week in the month of February, both in the classroom and the Student Center.
On Feb 8th, join Mike Fair for his performance which includes old world African drums, song, poetry, and storytelling. Mike Fair specializes in “Old World” Percussion and is a teacher of the arts. In the past 25 years, Mr. Fair has studied and played the Middle Doumbec (small goblet drum), the North African Tar (frame drum) and the West African Djembe (large goblet drum).
On Feb. 15th, Khalilah Ramirez will perform her Dance of Peace. Her mission is to educate and illuminate through the art of dance. The Dance of Peace is not only performance art featuring dance, it encompasses a range of storytelling and percussion, while bringing a harmonizing vibration of peace to the audience.
The Student Center will be hosting an Open Mic on Feb. 20th, from 12:00 - 2:00 PM. This is an opportunity for students to come and share songs, poetry, spoken word, or just listen to others.
The Career/Transfer Center will be participating in a webinar for admission to Historically Black Colleges and Universities on Feb. 28th from 9:30 - 11:30 AM in LI 138. Thanks to an agreement between California Community Colleges and several HBCUs, CCC students who complete certain academic requirements are guaranteed transfer to 35 participating HBCU institutions.
Gavilan College instructors have also invited CSU Monterey Bay Professor Paul G. Wright, and Poet, Actor, and recently retired Alameda County Public Defender George Higgins, to their classrooms to present to their students.
Gavilan College will also be featuring displays in the library including the Freedom Quilt Project and Black History Month Art Exhibit. The Freedom Quilt Project explores the possible use of quilts in the Underground Railroad and how each quilt pattern displayed in this exhibit may have held deeper meaning for slaves escaping to freedom. Artists and crafters from the Gavilan community—including faculty, staff, and students—have contributed pieced blocks to this special exhibit, which will be on display in the Gavilan Art Gallery through the month of February. When the exhibit concludes, the blocks will be pieced together and quilted. The final piece will be raffled to support scholarships for Gavilan students.
Additional art pieces, including African-American folk art, from local artists will be on display. The exhibit will include pieces by collage artist Louise Shields, collage artist Claude Ferguson, painter Marianne Eichenbaum, and sculptor Katie Johnson. This exhibit is made possible through a partnership with the Gilroy Center for the Arts and the Gilroy Art Alliance.
For more information, please visit our website at www.gavilan.edu.