The African American Cultural Center presented live reenactments of important moments in African-American history on Saturday for its Blacks in Wax Live Museum as part of Black History Month on campus. Hosted at Witherspoon Student Center in collaboration with the Center’s AYA ambassadors program, 22 NC State students portrayed and told the stories of influential members of the African-American community that continue to inspire America today.African
The student-run and operated program celebrated its 10th year this Saturday.
Kinesha Harris, a senior studying science, technology and society and chair of the Blacks in Wax committee, explained her hopeful optimism for the future of the program.
“This program is in its 10th year, we hope this program continues for 10 more, 20 more,” Harris said. “It has been such a staple program every year for the past 10 years as a part of the Black History Month calendar.”
The program began with a brief lesson on African proverbs, greetings and congratulatory traditions in African culture. Attendees were taught meaningful clapping sequences and African words, as well as African parables that gave history and context to the roots of influential African-American contributors to society that would come to be portrayed .
Harris explained the personal importance of the program and the awareness the program raises on campus among students and faculty, and the efforts of the program to educate the NC State community on African-American culture and history.
“There are so many different things that happen throughout history that people don’t know about,” Harris said. “There is such an array of different people who have done various things, not just during the civil rights era, but before and after, and we just want to highlight those different things because a lot of those stories go untold. We want the whole collective to know. This is our history — not just the history of us throughout the African diaspora — it’s the history of everybody.”
Tour guides led attendees among the 22 NC State student actors that were spread throughout the three floors of Witherspoon Student Center, and used the taught African greetings and congratulatory traditions to show appreciation for the performers. The performers portrayed people of color from both from history and present day, including Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Emmett Till, Katherine Johnson, Serena and Venus Williams, Octavia Butler.
Harris discussed the importance of black culture in America and the continuity between the two, as well as the prevalence and importance of black culture everyday, not just during Black History Month.
“Black history is and should be every single day because it is a part of American history,” Harris said. “We want to take the time to acknowledge different things that people have contributed, not just to America, but to the world overall.”
The tour was completed with a brief period of time in a room of reflection. Here, attendees learned about the current issues facing the American people such as the Keystone XL Pipeline construction, police brutality and the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
“We want to highlight all these different things because there is so much going on that people don’t know about or are just not aware of,” Harris explained. “We want to raise awareness to make sure people know.”
Joshua Williams, a senior studying accounting, noted the educational value the program offers to attendees, volunteers and performers alike.
“There are many aspects of the culture that we still need to know because nobody knows the entire thing,” Williams said. “It’s a great thing to attend, especially for Black History Month and if you’re trying to deepen your knowledge about African-American history.”
Mariah Morrison, a sophomore studying political science, portrayed Angela Davis during the Blacks in Wax event on Feb. 18, 2017 in the African-American Cultural Center. Over 22 African-American historical figures were represented to show visitors how african-americans have helped shape our culture.
