Oswego State’s Black Student Union, in collaboration with other organizations, is celebrating Black History Month with numerous programs throughout February to embrace the black community’s culture and heritage.

“To me, Black History Month means pride,” BSU Vice President Michaela Williams said. “To be prideful in all that it is to be black; to find pride in the struggle and the success; to be prideful of those who came before me, regardless of their tactics whether violent or nonviolent.”

The overarching theme of this year’s month-long observance is Black Her-story Month as a nod to BSU’s all-women executive board and is meant to highlight successful black women and acknowledge wrongs done to black women, Williams said.

The organization is putting together at least five programs per week, including the effects of mental health, domestic violence and medical mistreatment in women. Williams said she believes it is important to share information and stories which have not been brought to light often, such as the maternal mortality rate of black women.

The rate of pregnancy-related deaths from 2011 to 2014 was 12.4 deaths per 100,000 live births for white women, but for black women, the rate was 40 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I hope that through our programs, the BSU is able to show the campus that black pride doesn’t mean anti-white,” Williams said. “There isn’t anything wrong with loving ourselves. There isn’t anything wrong with our pride. Especially after all we’ve endured as a body of people, how could you be mad?”

In October, as part of Return to Oz, Williams and other members of BSU met alumni who had been in the organization when Black History Month was first celebrated in 1970. She expressed her interest in hearing the alumni’s stories about how BSU was only given enough funding to celebrate one week out of the month and how they fought for the opportunity to host programs for all of February.

BSU currently hosts several programs throughout the month, including their annual Variety Show and a dinner.

“Our budget is just ok, I’d say,” Williams said. “Granted, it isn’t a low number, but for what we’re expected to bring to this campus each semester, sometimes it doesn’t always feel  [like] enough.”

Anisha Melton, director of marketing for BSU, joined the organization to make a difference on campus and provide a space in the campus community where black students can feel more comfortable. She said Black History Month is a time to pave the road that allowed her to follow her dreams and also understand her worth as a young black woman.

“I hope that BSU will continue to speak about things that make people uncomfortable but bring to light topics that need to be discussed,” Melton said. “In addition, I hope we can go back to being more prevalent in the things rattling the black community on campus.”

Photo provided by Michaela Williams