Stephens College hosted an event with local community leaders Monday night for the last week of Black History Month.
The panel included Columbia and Kansas City leaders who spoke about what Black History Month means to Missouri and to themselves.
The panelists included Inclusive Impact Institute Director Nikki McGruder, First Ward City Councilman Clyde Ruffin, MU black studies professor April Langley and Stephens trustee Anita Parran.
Ania Martin is a senior at Stephens College and a Black History Month Committee member. She said she hopes people walked away from the panel feeling encouraged to embrace what it’s like to be black every day and not just for the month of February.
“This panel has inspired me to keep learning, to keep telling stories and to keep talking to random people about their lives,” Martin said.
Inclusive Impact Institute Director Nikki McGruder focuses on diversity, inclusion and equity in Columbia. She said her voice and perspective as a black person is important to understand the culture and history of black individuals. McGruder said people have a responsibility to educate themselves on the history of black individuals that is not told in history books.
“It's important that we have an understanding of more than just slavery; it's important that people start to see black people for all of their history,” McGruder said. “The history and the culture is interwoven. We have to tell the right stories the right way, so we have to start that process of becoming enlightened.”
Martin said black history involves everyone and that everyone should listen to the stories being told every day to help be allies to people of color for more than Black History Month.
Columbia’s last Black History Month presentation on Feb. 28 will feature an oral history of Black Wall Street at the Armory Sports Center, a thriving business district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that was attacked by white residents in 1921.