Join us for these events.
Black History Month Kickoff Day Party
Date: Monday, February 3, 2020
When: 11:30 a.m.
Where: University Center Tennessee Room
Sponsor: UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: A Celebration of Black History. Come out and enjoy music, games and fish and spaghetti.
Black Professionals at The Hunter: Community. Connections. Culture
Date: Monday, February 3, 2020
When: 5:30 p.m.
Where: Hunter Museum of American Art
Sponsors: Hunter Museum and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: BPATH event in which you will experience an evening of art, networking, great food, and music. This will be a great way to meet black professionals and connect with mentors while also celebrating black history month and the strength that makes us a community. This evening will include an interactive, call-and-response poetry experience with poets Erika Roberts and Marcus Ellsworth and music from UTC’s Littleton H Mason Singers while viewing artworks by African American artists in Hunter’s galleries. To learn more and to register for the event click here.
Reel Justice: Movie Showing and Discussion of Harriet
Date: Tuesday, February 4, 2020
When: 8:30 p.m.
Where: University Center Tennessee Room
Sponsors: Housing and Residence Life, Student and Family Engagement, & UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: This event features a screening of the 2019 film Harriet. Afterward, there will be a guided discussion of the movie with a panel led by UTC students/faculty/staff.
Beyond the Finesse: Getting the Job/Internship
Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2020
When: 12:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Multicultural Center
Sponsors: Center for Career and Leadership Development and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: Interactive approach to helping students understand a strategic plan for managing
the challenges of gaining employment in their desired area of focus.
Sweet Tea with Sherese: Therapy for Black Girls: Educating, Empowering, and Uniting African American Women
Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2020
When: 5:30 p.m.
Where: University Center Multicultural Center
Sponsors: UTC Honors College, Mocs Dining and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: An intimate discussion with Dr. Joy Bradford, founder of Therapy for Black Girls, and Sherese Williams, Assistant Director for the UTC Honors College on the importance of building and being a supportive network for your peers. Dr. Joy will discuss the inspiration behind the Therapy for Black Girls podcast and directory and how she supports other therapists and women of color through her businesses.
August Wilson's: Gem of the Ocean
Date: Sunday, February 9, 2020
When: 2:30 p.m.
Where: Chattanooga Theatre Center
Sponsor: UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: With a central character who claims to be 285 years old and a storyline that follows a journey to find a city in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, mysticism and realism intersect in the Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s production of August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. Space is limited, please RSVP here.
Survivorship and Intersectionality: Improving Access to Resources for Black Survivors
Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2020
When: 6 p.m.
Where: University Center Multicultural Center
Sponsor: Center for Student Well Being
Description: Survivorship and Intersectionality is an ongoing focus group style workshop that seeks to identify barriers that exist for students with marginalized identities when attempting to access services for survivors of Sexual Misconduct, Relationship Violence, and Stalking (SMRVS) on UTC’s campus. This session will start by briefly discussing terminology and some statistics related to SMRVS and black survivors. The majority of time during this workshop will be used to allow students to provide feedback about barriers they have identified on-campus that may make accessing resources more challenging for black survivors. Students will also use this to create a vision for change.
Beyond the Finesse: Getting the Job/Internship
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2020
When: 12:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Multicultural Center
Sponsors: Center for Career and Leadership Development and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: Interactive approach to helping students understand a strategic plan for managing the challenges of gaining employment in their desired area of focus.
Just Mercy: Movie Screening and Discussion
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2020
When: 6:45 p.m.
Where: Majestic 12 Downtown
Sponsor: Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU)
Description: This event features a screening of the 2019 film Just Mercy. Afterward, there will be a guided discussion of the movie.
Minority Mental Health Tabling
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2020
When: 11:30 a.m.
Where: University Center Lobby
Sponsor: UTC Counseling Center
Description: Resources and information to encourage counseling services for students.
“The Six Triple Eight” Documentary Screening
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2020
When: 3:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Auditorium
Sponsors: Power 94, 6th Cavalry Museum and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: In February 1945, the U.S. Army sent 855 black women from the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) to England and France to clear the backlog of mail in the European Theater of Operations. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the SixTripleEight, was the only all-black female battalion to serve in Europe during WWII. Confronted with racism and sexism from their leadership and troops, they served with honor and distinction completing their mission in six months. By war’s end, the SixTripleEight had cleared over 17 million pieces of backlogged mail ensuring the troops stayed in touch with their loved ones back home. The last of the women returned home in March 1946. They were never fully recognized…until now. James “Jim” Williams Theres, Producer, “The Six Triple Eight” - Mr. Theres is the Executive Writer for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington D.C. He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, an M.B.A. from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, WI, and an M.A. in History from Jackson State University.
The Eric Morse Story: Race, Poverty, and the Criminalization of Black Youth
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2020
When: 5:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Heritage Room
Sponsors: The UTC Department of History and Africana Studies and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: In 1994, 10-year-old Jessie Rankins and 11-year-old Tykeece Johnson pushed a 5-year-old, Eric Morse, from a 14th-floor window in the Ida B. Wells Projects of Chicago. The murder of a child by children shocked the nation. Morse’s murder, allegedly incited by his refusal to steal candy, became another tragic instance of the relationship between urban poverty and crime. Following Morse’s tragic death, Jessie Jackson and others implored President Bill Clinton that these “children in crisis” needed better educational opportunities, a safer and economically stable environment, and federal support to restore these communities. Morse represented only one victim of the circumstances that shaped so many children and teenagers in that neighborhood. But instead of seeing Morse’s case and others like it as symptoms of broad social ills, legislators blamed young “super predators” like Rankins and Johnson. This presentation examines the national media coverage of Morse’s death, which exposed the quotidian violence and hardship endured by poor black communities. It considers the policy responses proposed and enacted in the wake of the tragedy. The tragedy mobilized black teenagers in the projects who advocated for social legislation to alleviate poverty and provide equal access to education instead of focusing on criminalizing juvenile offenders. Morse’s case informs larger questions about the victimization and criminalization of black youth and the exclusivity of white childhood in public discourses of mourning and empathy. The presentation investigates the shifts in the discourses of child and teen death at the intersections of public policy, criminal justice, cultural currents, and emotional politics.
NPHC Night at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center (Event open only to current NPHC members) Must RSVP: mcc@utc.edu
Date: Monday, February 17, 2020
When: 5:30 p.m.
Where: The Bessie Smith Cultural Center
Sponsors: The Bessie Smith Cultural Center and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: Exploring the historical significance and impact of NPHC. Speaker, Reception, and Music. Speaker: Dr. Crystal deGregory - Historian, Storyteller, & Cultural Commentator www.CrystaldeGregory.com
Bad Blood, Treatment and Lies: The Impact of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, 1932-1972
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2020
When: 6:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Signal Mountain Room
Sponsors: Health and Human Performance, Department of History and Africana Studies, and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: This is a two-part, two-day program that begins with an interactive workshop simulation. Attendees will participate by portraying their assigned character to dive into the lasting impact of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Day two will include viewing a historical documentary followed by discussion. Attendees are encouraged to attend both days, but it is not a requirement.
United: A Night of Poetry and Spoken Word
Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2020
When: 6:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Multicultural Center
Sponsor: Student and Family Engagement
Description: Poetry, music, food and fun!
One in Two Could Be You Tabling
Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2020
When: 9:30 a.m.
Where: University Center Lobby
Sponsor: Cempa Community Care African American Outreach Committee
Description: Awareness information, and free HIV/STI testing to encourage sexual health services for students. Empowering students to take charge of their sexual health. Free breakfast foods provided
Bad Blood, Treatment and Lies: The Impact of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, 1932-1972
Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2020
When: 6:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Signal Mountain Room
Sponsors: Health and Human Performance, Department of History and Africana Studies, and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: This is a two-part, two-day program that begins with an interactive workshop simulation. Attendees will participate by portraying their assigned character to dive into the lasting impact of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Day two will include viewing a historical documentary followed by discussion. Attendees are encouraged to attend both days, but it is not a requirement.
Black Heroines for Justice- 1980's Terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan in Chattanooga and the Women Who Stood Against Them
Date: Thursday, February 20, 2020
When: 5:30 p.m.
Where: Bessie Smith Cultural Center
Sponsors: History Department, Africana Studies, Special Collection UTC Library, English Department, and UTC Multicultural Affairs
Description: Professor Randolph M. McLaughlin, author of Racially Motivated Violence: Litigation Strategies, will discuss his use of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 to sue the Justice Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for shooting five Black women while they walked home on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Chattanooga on Month DD, 1982. In the 1980s, the Klan re-emerged as a terrorist organization that employed violence and intimidation against members of African American communities in the Southern United States. Thursday, February 20th at 5:30 pm at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center Professor McLaughlin will share and discuss his firsthand account of the landmark case of Crumsey v. Justice Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which resulted in the plaintiffs winning $535,000 in damages and an injunction against the Klan prohibiting the group from engaging in violence and from entering the Black community. This was the first time that Klan victims secured monetary relief in such a suit, and the Crumsey case continues to serve as a model for other litigation against white supremacist organizations. This event is open to the public in the hopes of educating and creating a dialog between Chattanooga residents. Recognizing the fortitude of these Chattanooga women should be acknowledged citywide at the very least.
The Streets Have Eyes: An Examination of Police Brutality through Hip-Hop
Dates: Thursday, February 20, 2020
When: 8:00 p.m.
Where: University Center Multicultural Center
Sponsors: Political Science and Public Service/ Social, Cultural and Justice Studies
Description: This presentation and resulting discussion will focus on how hip-hop artists portray police brutality in their music. We will examine hip hop from a historical context, highlight various artists and their music from hip hop's inception to the present day, examine portrayals of police brutality and the solutions the artists propose. The presentation will include uncensored audio clips from various songs that discuss police brutality and will engage audience members for reactions, responses, and discussions about potential public policy solutions to the issue.
The 14th Amendment: ALL A CRYIN'
Date: Monday, February 24, 2020
When: 6:00 p.m.
Where: Barking Legs Theater
Sponsors: UTC TV Production, Department of Communication and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: Free screening of a short film created to recognize the violence against African Americans by authorities with a message of hope for the future. A panel discussion with the production team will follow the screening.
UTC Night at Hamilton Skate Place
Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2020
When: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Hamilton Skate Place
Sponsors: Student and Family Engagement and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: Enjoy a fun night of skating, music, and games with fellow UTC students
Sankofa African American Museum on Wheels
Date: Friday, February 28, 2020
When: 8:00 a.m.
Where: University Center Chattanooga Rooms A, B & C
Sponsors: Office of Equity and Inclusion and UTC Office of Multicultural Affairs
Description: The traveling museum showcases a collection of art, collectibles and memorabilia from the United States, U.S. Virgin Islands, West Africa and Europe.