Eddie S. Glaude Jr. sat in front of his bookcase filled with works by authors such as Toni Morrison and Martin Luther King Jr., wearing Apple Airpods and a black and white striped tie as he spoke at this year’s Black History Month keynote.
Glaude Jr. is a native of Moss Point and a distinguished scholar of African American studies at Princeton University, and to him, Mississippi represents “a metaphor for America and all its contradictions, in a state that carries such profound beauty and such extraordinary horror.”
His virtual address, “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” took place via Zoom on Tuesday evening.
The UM Center for Inclusion & Cross Cultural Engagement premiered its intersectional approach to heritage month planning last year and has continued to implement it this year. The approach, called “All In. All Year,” encourages continued conversations about diverse identities throughout the academic year.
The continued commitment to the “All In. All Year” campaign and the less-than-traditional online formats of 2021 Black History Month events come on the heels of a year that caused the university to reassess diversity on campus.
The polarized state of the country following the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans due to police brutality last summer led to a group of Black student leaders demanding monthly meetings with Chancellor Glenn Boyce to be in better communication about how the university can best serve the needs of the Black community.
In January, the university announced its commitment to a five-year diversity plan which aims to reconcile the university’s racial history, create programs to support underrepresented students, and increase scholarships for women, among other things. The plan also addressed many of the concerns that Black student leaders had brought to Boyce’s attention over the past months, including a university commitment to evaluate the representational diversity of existing chancellor’s committees and work to increase the number of underrepresented vendors and contractors.
The “Pathways to Equity” plan is Phase II of the university’s diversity plan which began in 2014 under then-Chancellor Dan Jones. Jones created the first action plan with the goal of broadening “the visible symbols of our history to be more intentionally inclusive.” In the past year, the university has relocated its Confederate monument, begun partnerships between administration and minority students and created its five-year plan of action.
In his keynote speech on Tuesday night, Glaude Jr. spoke about how critical it is for institutions and individuals to recognize their failures and reconcile them.
“In his writing and speaking, Glaude is an American critic in the tradition of James Baldwin and Ralph Waldo Emerson, confronting history and bringing our nation’s complexities, vulnerabilities and hope into full view,” said Je’von Franklin, a senior African American studies major, while introducing Glaude Jr.
Glaude Jr. is also an author, best known for his books, ‘Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul’ and ‘In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America.’
He spoke about the unique American experience over the last four years and the “hyperpolarized” environment that reflects deep divisions within the United States along racial, political and class lines, as well as the large numbers of Black people who have died from and experienced police brutality over the past year.
“We have to live into a different way of being together, and that means, in my view, committing ourselves to building a country that affirms the dignity and gravity of every human being, no matter the color of their skin, their zip code, where they’re from or who they love, their gender or ability,” Glaude Jr. said. “It must involve a revolution of value, a shift in who we are and what we value.”
Glaude Jr. said that in order for this to happen, Americans will have to tell themselves the truth about their failures and take the risk of doing something bold and visionary.
“Black History Month isn’t just simply an occasion to celebrate the achievements of famous Black people,” Glaude Jr. said. “It’s an occasion to look the ugliness of who we are squarely in the face.”
The university is hosting a variety of events throughout February to recognize Black History Month. On Feb. 25 at 3 p.m., the “Black Power at UM Task Force Presentation” will focus on the efforts and progress of the task force. Afterward, Black Student Union President Nicholas Crasta and ASB President Joshua Mannery are leading the “Black Power at UM Lasting Impact Mixer” at 6:30 p.m. as an opportunity to highlight the lasting impact of the 1970 protest by Black students at Fulton Chapel.
