The campus community will celebrate Black History Month in February with a cooking demonstration, a documentary about the first Black first responders and a call to students to wear Afro-centric clothing and accessories to school.

The theme for this year’s Black History Month is “Black Joy,” which includes the healing power of love and connectedness and holistic self-care, Black History Month coordinator Stephanie Smith-Baker said. She added the month will focus, in part, on the extent to which Black joy and self-love are revolutionary, given the historic and contemporary trauma that have shaped many Black lives.

All of this year’s events will be in person on the Arnold campus.

“I think everyone should celebrate Black History Month because I think Black history … is part of American history, world history, because we all give to this world that we live in, you know,” Smith-Baker, a professor of health sciences, said. “And so I think it’s really important.”

To start off, the Black History Month Committee is encouraging students to show their unique style to make a strong political or social statement by wearing African fashion and accessories on Feb. 5.

Feb. 3 is the start of a month-long exhibition showcasing the work of Black artists throughout the DMV.

Curated by communications professor April Copes, the exhibit will culminate with a reception from 2-4 p.m. on Feb. 26 in the Pascal Center for Performing Arts gallery.

“We went through so many pieces of art, and we try to have it be loosely that could express our theme, like this year’s theme 2025 is Black joy,” Smith-

Baker said. “We have some really great pieces of art that we know our college community will really enjoy.”

The month’s festivities also will include cooking demonstrations, a session on steroetyping and a confidence-building workshop with a former beauty queen.

Smith-Baker said the committee members tried to focus the events on students, “but also to be inclusive of students.”