On Feb. 27, the Black Student Alliance (BSA) is hosting the “Taste of Blackness,” an event aimed at presenting African-American culture. This is one of two events organized to celebrate Black History Month.
“We wanted to give people more than the taste of food,” said BSA president Chrissiey Jackson, Bloomfield Hills senior. “We wanted to let people into the black culture, because there is a black culture.”
Tickets are being sold for three dollars at the Kellogg Center and four dollars at the door. Activities include dances, poetry readings, motivational speeches, singing, and lip-synching.
The club usually focuses on entertainment, but this year they wanted to incorporate more history into their program.
“Taste of Blackness is a program that doesn’t just consist of food,” Jackson said. “It has food, [but also] historical things like the nine national black fraternities and sororities, pre and post slavery times, black inventors – its going to be a fun, interactive history session.”
Jackson believes that integrating history raises awareness.
“There’s a bunch of different things that go unnoticed or unsaid, so we’re trying to make that prevalent,” Jackson said.
Darrian Hollonquest, Detroit junior, is soon-to-be club president and supports the addition of history in “Taste of Blackness.”
“I hope that even after I graduate they will not only have a taste fest, but a taste of black culture,” Hollonquest said.
Of the clubs on campus, BSA has one of the most prevalent and important relationships with the community.
“Everyone is welcome to our programs,” Hollonquest said. “We have a lot of the community who support us and look for our events. Not only are we reaching out to them, but they’re reaching out to us.”
BSA worked with Baldwin to create the “Soul Food Day” experience, held last Tuesday, Feb. 21. Students tasted catfish, fried chicken, glazed pecan sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, and different flavors of cobbler.
“The soul food dishes were created during the slavery era,” Hollonquest said. “It came from [slaves] using scraps that the people that owned them gave them. The name ‘soul food’ came in the 1960s because it represented the history behind the food.”
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