The Student Government Association and the Nicholls chapter of the NAACP arranged several events for the University during African American History Month, including a trip to Wallace, Louisiana to visit Whitney Plantation.

The trip to Whitney Plantation is one of the many ideas the African American History Month planning committee feels gives an opportunity for students to learn something apart from the classroom setting.

Deborah Moorhead, sociology instructor and African American Month activities chairperson, has many hopes for the trip. She said, “It demonstrates the cruelty that man can extol on others, which is something we don’t like to think about.”

According to the museum’s website, “Whitney Plantation Museum is meant to pay homage to all slaves on the plantation itself and to all of those who lived elsewhere in the U.S. South.”
With the aid of funds provided by SGA, students are departing for the Whitney by bus on Monday Feb. 22.

Lawrence Arceneaux III, senior history major from Chauvin said, “SGA always does something each year to help fund events that benefit the school as a whole.”
African American History Month, as well as other ethic awareness months, were established to educate the public on contributions made to the United States by these groups.
Moorhead said, “Maybe we’ll have a time where it won’t have to be specialized and everyone will accept that this particular group did contribute to the making of this country in economic ways and every other way, but until that happens then we have this month where we look at this particular group.” 

“We are naming it African American month; it happens to be about the education of the African American, but the African American’s education is education for everybody,” Moorhead said.

She and many others believe it is the responsibility of everyone to be educated about African American contribution to the United States.

University organization of African American Month events is nothing new. According to history.com, “By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the Civil Rights Movement and a growing awareness of black identity, Negro History Week had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses.”

In addition to the trip to Whitney Plantation, the committee and the NAACP are sponsoring several events around campus such as health screenings, film screenings, themed lunches and guest speakers. All programs are free and informative flyers are posted around campus with specific details about the events. Moorhead said, “I would like to invite everyone out to take part in our programming, embrace it and see what they can learn.”