Photo by Urvi Dalal.
By Urvi Dalal
To honor Black History Month, Texas Tech students, faculty, and campus organizations took time to support and celebrate Black culture through a myriad of events this past month hosted by the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. However, the celebration and recognition goes beyond the month of February and its historical background.
Crystal Cumberland, inaugural director of DDEI’s Black Cultural Center, said having the only Black Cultural Center in any four-year public university in Texas is a prime example of how great the administration is.
“This is a pure example of how much students’ voices weigh and the impact it can have on change around campus,” Cumberland said. “Administration listened and made it happen.”
Uriel Onye, assistant librarian for intercultural information services, oversees the Peters Family Legacy Library within the Black Cultural Center. He said having the only Black Cultural Center within a public university in the state of Texas shows there is a lot to be done.
Onye also said the resources in the library database are available after a thorough critique.
“Now it’s possible to find resources that tell our stories the way we want them to be heard,” Onye said. “It’s not someone else just putting something there because it has our identity on it without it telling our story. If it really tells the story we want, then we put it out there. That’s the unique thing we do here.”
Onye said having the Black Cultural Center on campus is memorable after all the students and staff’s hard work.
Photo by Urvi Dalal.
“I’m glad to be a part of that—to be part of the pioneer staff of this place.,” Onye said. “This place is like a haven where students can come and feel at home; they have such a beautiful space, so peaceful and quiet.”
The Black Cultural Center is comprised of a foyer area, conferences rooms, multipurpose spaces, a bistro area, a refueling station, the Peters Family Legacy Library and a lounge space.
The refueling station, also known as the snack spot, was created in partnership with Red Raider Food Pantry. The refueling station does not require signing in and is a place for any student, including those facing insecurities to get a variety of food and drinks, no questions asked.
“You can stuff it all in your backpack,” Cumberland said. “We know students deal with food insecurities, so we want to make it easy for them [to get snacks] and feel comfortable.”
The Black Cultural Center is a part of Tech’s DDEI.
“Students wanted a space where people can get educated on Black history, Black culture and Black experiences, and that is exactly what we do every day,” Cumberland said.
Although the Peters Family Legacy Library is in the Black Cultural Center, it operates as a separate entity.
“Having a library of this quality, in this building, goes on to show that whoever had the dream from the Black Cultural Center had a big dream,” Onye said.
Onye added that, given the history of Texas Tech and the west, having a Black Cultural Center is a landmark achievement.
“The aura [at the grand opening] evoked memories,” Onye said. “You could feel something out of the ordinary — like the heavens were happy. Everybody felt something unique. It provided a sense of not just belonging but also ownership to Black students in particular.”
Cumberland said her job is not only to manage the space but to meet with students and student organizations while hosting events they want to see.
Robert Weiner, Texas Tech librarian, curated the Black Comic Creators and Heroes exhibit alongside the Peters Family Legacy library which opened Thursday, Feb. 23.
Photo by Urvi Dalal.
Weiner said the exhibit showcases heroes in comic books throughout history from the 1930s to 2022, as well as showcasing Black comic creators in America throughout history. The exhibit looks at the contributions these creators made to comic strips, comic books and sequential art in general.
“The contributions of Black heroes and creators and their history is very long and goes back all the way to the 1930s in this country,” Weiner said. “A lot of people don’t know about the contributions and the fact that there have been Black characters in comic strips and books going back that far in American history.”
Weiner said his goal was to highlight some of the important people and heroes that exist. There are hundreds of creators and Black heroes, he said, and this is only in the United States.
“There is always a hidden history to things,” Weiner said. “There is always something that predates. There is new information to be found about the history of practically any topic. There is always someone behind what is popular now.”
Weiner added that the history of Black comic creators and heroes is far richer than what is showcased in the exhibit.
“Keep in mind, we are only scratching the surface with this exhibit,” Weiner said. “We’re just highlighting a small portion of what is there.”
Weiner said the Peters Family Legacy Library, the host of the exhibit, is a collection of materials that showcase Black writing — nonfiction and fiction — as a part of the Black Cultural Center.
“It’s a place for people to come and understand the literary contributions that [Black people] have made,” Weiner said.
Onye believes other universities can use Tech as an example.
“[We] did this and it shows that it’s doable,” Onye said. “This is a place that is sacred. When you come here you will never forget where you [are], it’s the Black Cultural Center at Texas Tech. No other university here has what we have. We’ve set a standard; we’re the torchbearers.”
Cumberland said the DDEI works across the university to pull in people that want to work with the heritage months. The division supports them and their ideas.
“Part of the reason there is a university-wide committee is to make sure the university-wide community understands, participates, joins and has a say,” Cumberland said.
Cumberland added the division asks how the programs can engage everybody; how they can invite everybody; and how they can get the word out to everybody and engage and learn about other cultures, which is the reason we celebrate different cultures throughout the year.
Institutions on campus work to make sure that events and opportunities to learn, engage and educate about Black History and Hispanic History are happening year-long, she said.
“If I only talked about Black History in February then what about the rest of the months,” Cumberland said. “We have to make sure people have an opportunity to see themselves, learn about their culture, learn about their communities outside of one month. One month is never enough for anybody.”
The Black Comic Creators and Heroes Exhibit provides the Tech community with another learning opportunity.
Photo by Urvi Dalal.
One author showcased at the exhibit is Bertram Fitzgerald who created the “Golden Legacy Series” of Black history comic books. Weiner said this series looks at the history of Black people and their contributions throughout the world including Black cowboys, Martin Luther King, Crispus Attucks, and more.
“[Crispus Attucks] was one of the first people to die for the cause of the American Revolution and he was Black,” Weiner said. “He stood up for the American spirit, freedom and democracy against the British. The founding of this nation owes something to Crispus Attucks.”
“Fitzgerald created these comics to educate, and they were very popular in the 1960s and 70s,” Weiner said. “They are also used in secondary schools and college classrooms to educate students on the contributions of [Black people] to world culture.”
The idea, Weiner said, is to add and revitalize the exhibit with new Black comic creators, heroes and villains.
“In doing this we have to realize that it’s not all negative,” Weiner said. “Stereotypes exist and they’re offensive but there were those that tried to fight against those stereotypes and that is the hidden history.”
Weiner said the collection provides a very positive portrayal and shows that there were Black people working in the industry and that there were heroes that positively portrayed Black characters in comics that were not stereotypical.
“We get the impression that [media representation] has always been negative. It has not,” Weiner said. “Comics are a form of social history like any kind of popular culture, whether its fashion, sports, music [or] arts. The most popular movies in the world are comic book based now. It’s something that is with us for good.”
The exhibit is open to all students, faculty and staff in the Peters Family Legacy Library within the Black Cultural Center for the foreseeable future. The comics from the exhibit are available for checkout in the library or to view online.
Photo by Urvi Dalal.
“The most important thing is to let students know that we are not an island,” Onye said. “We’re still connected to the main library.”
Cumberland said the Black Cultural Center is a space for everyone to come learn and engage with Black history and Black culture. Part of the goal for the DDEI is to ensure that students, faculty and staff feel recognized, heard and seen year-long.
“The students who created this space, created it for everybody,” Cumberland said. “They are so proud and so excited of what they were able to create and accomplish and they want all students to enjoy it.”
Cumberland said the DDEI and the Black Cultural Center also support retention and recruitment.
“When [entering the Black Cultural Center] students [should] feel like they have a place where they belong, can be in communities, meet new people, do things that make them happy and decompress,” Cumberland said. “That’s also what this space and this month is about.”
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