USF Celebrates Black History Month 2025

Black History Month Men's Basketball Game Social, Feb. 1, 6 to 7 p.m., War Memorial Gym. Students, staff, faculty, and alumni are welcome at this Black Community Council event.

Spoken Word at Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Feb. 2, 5 to 7 p.m., MoAD, 685 Mission St. All are welcome to perform or just watch. Brought to you by USF’s Black Achievement Success and Engagement (BASE) initiative.

Street Soldiers Radio Show with USF’s Marshall-Riley Living-Learning Community (MRLLC), Feb. 9, 9 to 10 p.m. Members of the MRLLC have been invited to the Street Soldiers Radio show to share their experiences on a USF immersion trip to Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia.

Working Towards Freedom: An Intimate History of a Black Woman's Ascent From Slavery, Feb. 12, 5:30 to 7 p.m., Xavier Auditorium, Fromm Hall. Weaving the story of her own ancestors' journeys from slavery to freedom into a speculative nonfiction tale, Professor Candice Harrison discusses how a small yet significant population of enslaved Black women used intimate relationships with white slaveholders to free themselves and their children in 19th century Louisiana.

Regroup, Recharge, Feb. 13, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Feb. 24, 4 to 6 p.m., Intercultural Center (UC 411/412). A Black History Month series hosted by USF Community Connection intern Justin Boyle. The theme of the first session with the USF Black Student Union is “Our Voices, Our Needs, Our Space.” This session provides Black students a space to vent, identify unmet Black student needs, and come together. Join us for a night of community, snacks, and conversation. The second session’s theme will be “Wellness Recharge.”

Black Card Revoked: Trivia Night, Feb. 18, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Koret Lodge. Faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to test their knowledge of Black history, culture, and iconic moments. This event promises laughter, learning, and a little friendly competition.

Soul Food Dinner Night, Feb. 20, 6 p.m., UC Main Cafeteria. Celebrate community, culture, and connection through the flavors of traditional soul food. Sponsored by the Black Student Union.

Ancestral Strands, Feb. 20, 7 to 8:30 p.m., UC 503. Students are invited to join the African Student Association for a night of African waist-beading and jewelry-making. Explore the history and cultural significance of waist beads and African jewelry.

HP Black Students Day 2025, Feb. 21, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., HP headquarters, Palo Alto. Hewlett Packard Black Students Day offers Bay Area students exposure to careers at HP in a variety of fields. Through educational workshops, panels, informal networking, and a site tour, students get a comprehensive view of life at HP. USF’s BASE will provide round-trip transportation to HP headquarters.

Pink Goes Red & Alphas Have Heart: Southern Line Dancing Class, Feb. 21, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Eta Sigma chapter, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Upsilon Rho chapter, teach a Southern line-dancing class. Location TBD.

Black Alumni Society at the Black Joy Parade, Feb. 23, 12:30 to 4 p.m., Downtown Oakland. The USF Black Alumni Society (BAS) will have a booth at the seventh annual Black Joy Parade, a celebration of the Black experience and the community's contribution to history. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are invited to join at no cost. Sign up, if you’d like to volunteer with BAS at the booth.

Marshall-Riley and Casa Madríz Dinner, Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Toler Hall. Members of the Marshall-Riley and Casa Madríz living-learning communities have dinner and build community and fellowship.

Melanated Mental Matters: Sisterhood in Love and Labor, Feb. 25, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Black Resource Center, Gleeson Library. Melanated Mental Matters is a monthly drop-in space where students come to have open and real talk about diverse topics affecting Black mental health and wellness. Led by CAPS psychotherapist Jevon Rice and psychotherapist Briahna Jackson in collaboration with a different student group every month. Melanated Mental Matters is not group therapy, and you do not have to be a CAPS client to join.

Black Joy Event, Feb. 26, 6 to 8 p.m., McLaren 250/251. University Ministry invites students in the Black diaspora at USF to an evening filled with games, live performances, and karaoke. Celebrate Black History Month with the beauty, power, and diversity of Blackness.

We Were Here Film Screening, Feb. 26, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Xavier Auditorium, Room 120, Fromm Hall. Join the Department of History for a screening of We Were Here followed by a talk and Q&A by award-winning filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu. We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe sheds light on African and Black individuals in Renaissance Europe, highlighting their depiction in artworks by some of the era’s most celebrated artists. How did they come to Europe? Why were they portrayed? Were they truly all servants or slaves? If the Black faces portrayed in these Renaissance masterpieces could speak, what would they tell us?

Engineering Solutions for Modern Labor Challenges, Feb. 27, 4:30 p.m., Innovation Hive, Harney Science Center. This event is open to all and is brought to you by the National Society of Black Engineers chapter at USF.

Glow & Grow, Feb. 28, 11:45 a.m., CAPS Group Room, Gilson Hall, Lower Level. Glow & Grow is a therapy space focused on healing through connection and empowerment for those who navigate life as Black women in body, spirit, identity — past, present, future, and fluid. Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. RSVP

More information about Black History Month at USF