Black History Month

Black history month

2025

Black History Month is a time to honor and celebrate the history, contributions, and achievements of African descended people in the US and across the world. One person who was very infl uential in Pan-African decolonial organizing was Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Marcus Garvey was born to a working class family in Jamaica in 1887, and as a young adult, traveled throughout Central and South America, and also visited London. In 1914, he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and in 1916, moved its headquarters to Harlem. At its height, the UNIA had over 6 million members worldwide.

During a time of rising anti-Black violence in the US, and colonial oppression in the colonies, Garvey's message was one of liberation. He advocated for Black people to reverse the harm of colonialism and to emancipate themselves from mental slavery. He advocated for African people, regardless of where they resided, to work toward full liberation: psychological, economic, and political. His speeches and written texts spoke to the beauty Black people and uplifted African and African-diasporic culture. He advocated for Black economic self-reliance and encouraged investment in Black communities. He also envisioned a united Africa that was free and that would welcome and protect African descended people around the world. He was a leader in the Pan-African movement and his legacy continues to inform Black liberation consciousness.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said of Garvey: “He was the first man, on a mass scale and level” to give millions of Black people “a sense of dignity and destiny.” (PBS, “Biden issues pardon to late Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who infl uenced civil rights movement”).

To learn more about Marcus Garvey, the breadth of his influence, his conviction and imprisonment by the US government, and his posthumous pardon by President Biden, please see this interview of Garvey scholar, Dr. Justin Hansford, on Democracy Now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pja7nb2ZXlg

References:
BBC History, “Marcus Garvey”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_fi gures/garvey_marcus.shtml
Democracy Now, "
Marcus Garvey's Pardon Helps Undo "Harms of the Past," Honors Black History: Justin Hansford”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pja7nb2ZXlg

There are many events at Napa Valley College and in the community to celebrate Black History Month, and below is a list of programs that you can attend.

Update 2/25/2025: Please note that today's Mental Health Workshop has been cancelled.

8th Annual Napa Black History Month Celebration | 2/1/25; 2:00-5:00 p.m., Crosswalk Community Church, 2590 1st Street, Napa, 94558 | The theme for 2025 is “African Americans and Labor”, which recognizes the important role of Black labor in shaping American communities, rights, and industries. Keynote Speaker, Dr. Lori Watson, advocates for racial and gender equity through her organization Race-Work, pushing for liberty and justice for ALL.

NVC Umoja Community Sign up for events: https://forms.gle/iQAcVs6Ao8T35ou1A

Umoja Indaba | 2/11/25; 11:10-12:45 p.m., NVC Room 2230

Umoja Porch Talk | 2/18/25; 11:10-12:45 p.m.; NVC Room 2230

Umoja Game Night | 2/20/25; 6:00 pm; NVC Room 1435

Raised in Hell: A One Man Show | 2/22/25; 2 p.m. & 7 p.m.; NVC Little Theater (Room 1230)

Mentis Mental Health Workshop | Event Cancelled | Join us for "Wellness and Resilience in Black History" a powerful presentation exploring how wellness and mental health have shaped the Black community's strength throughout history. Learn practical tools to support your own well-being while honoring the resilience of those who came before us. This event is open to all and aims to inspire, educate, and empower.

Umoja Black Excellence Fieldtrip | 2/27-28/25; CSU Sacramento

Black History Month Student Oratorical Contest | 2/26/25; 5:00-7:00 p.m., Napa High School | This annual event is organized by the Napa County Office of Education.

ORIGINS

As we celebrate the beginning of Black History Month, I’d like to reflect on the significant role that African Americans have held in the fight for social justice in our nation, and throughout the world. Below, you will find a video about the origin of Black History Month, and the man who established this period of recognition and celebration, Dr. Carter G. Woodson:

Black History Month celebrates the history and achievements of Africana people in this nation, and globally. Enslaved Africans were first transported to the Americas in 1502, more than five centuries ago. The brutal system of slavery that was established in the Caribbean and Latin America would be imported to the North American British colonies as English settlers colonized these lands. From the inception of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the development of slave societies throughout the Caribbean, South America, and North America, people of African origin and descent have engaged in various forms of resistance,

Contact Us

Shawntel Ridgle, Director, Continuing Education & Community Partnerships
shawntel.ridgle@napavalley.edu

Dr. Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy, Senior Director, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
patricia.moonsammy@napavalley.edu

Jeannette McClendon, Umoja Coordinator & Counseling Faculty
jmcclendon@napavalley.edu

Dr. Tia Madison, Communication Studies Professor
tmadison@napavalley.edu

Enoch Shully, Manager, Winery, Hospitality, & Culinary Operations
enoch.shully@napavalley.edu

from the remarkable act of survival in a system that was not designed to support the lives of the enslaved, to organized group resistance, abolitionist activism and armed conflict, and to serving as soldiers in the civil war to end the institution of slavery. Even when slavery was abolished, the persecution of Africans continued, not only in the Americas but throughout Africa as the continent was colonized by Europeans.

While we focus on the history of Black achievement in the US during Black History Month, it is important to remember that there has been a long and important history of Pan-African conversations, coalitions, and activism for freedom and the full benefits of citizenship. As African Americans were influenced and catalyzed by decolonial and civil rights activism in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa, the activism for equality led by African Americans in the US served as a template and a guiding light to Africans in other parts of the world, and to other social justice movements that would emerge in this country and globally.

Let us honor the struggles and achievement of Africans and African diasporic people in the US and throughout Africa and the African diaspora as we celebrate Black History Month, while also recognizing that we have much work to do to fight racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, discrimination against those who are differently abled, discrimination against those who have migrated to this country or were born in the US outside of the mechanisms of citizenship, and discrimination against those who live on the margins of our society.

Dr. Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy
Senior Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion