2023 Black History Month Events
For more information and questions, contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at mca@noctrl.edu.
Black Student Association's Annual African American Read-In
Thursday, February 9
6 p.m.
Meiley-Swallow Hall
Voices of Praise Gospel Extravaganza
Saturday, February 11
3 p.m.
Grace United Methodist Church, 300 E. Gartner Rd, Naperville
Join Voices of Praise Gospel Choir for an evening of praise and worship. The choir will be celebrating Black History Month with local college choirs, spoken word artists, and other performances. This is a time to learn about African American culture through various art forms.
12:5 "What's Love Got to Do With It"
Tuesday, February 14
12:05 p.m.
Koten Chapel, Kiekhofer Hall
Forever Motown
Saturday, February 18
8 p.m.
Pfeiffer Hall
Performed by a cast of veteran entertainers, including former members of The Jones, The Main Ingredient, The Spinners and The Marvelettes and peppered with Broadway savvy performers who had leading roles in "Dream Girls," "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God," "Porgy & Bess" and "Showboat," Forever Motown resumes its successful theater tour that broke its own box office records in 2018. The veteran entertainers offer a non-stop, high-energy trip down memory lane featuring the note-for-note hits America grew up on. The iconic Motown sound was recreated down to the slightest vocal and musical nuance by such American icons as Marvin Gaye & Tammie Terrell, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and the entire Motown roster of stars. The look and feel of authenticity extends to costumes from Tony Award-winning designer Evie Ross and classic Motown choreography from American Dance Theater director Terri Giordano who succeeded in creating visuals and choreography that capture the unique Motown style.
Black Student Association Soul Food Dinner
Thursday, February 23
The Langston Hughes Project: Ask Your Mama (12 Moods for Jazz)
Saturday, February 25
8 p.m.
Wentz Concert Hall
The Langston Hughes Project is a multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes's kaleidoscopic jazz poem suite, "Ask Your Mama" - Hughes's homage in verse and music to the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at the beginning of the 1960s. "Ask Your Mama" is a twelve-part epic poem which Hughes scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland, gospel songs, boogie woogie, bebop and progressive jazz, Latin "cha cha" and Afro-Cuban mambo music, German lieder, Jewish liturgy, West Indian calypso, and African drumming - a creative masterwork left unperformed at his death. A joyous celebration of music, spoken word and visuals, The Langston Hughes Project is performed by the impressively versatile Dr. Ron McCurdy (as narrator and on trumpet) and his talented group of musicians (on piano, bass and drums) who make heads bob, fingers snap and feet tap throughout. Together the words, sounds, and images recreate a magical moment in our cultural history, which bridges the Harlem Renaissance, the post World War II Beat writers' coffeehouse jazz poetry world, and the looming Black Arts performance explosion of the 1960s.
12:5 "Seasons of Love"
Tuesday, February 28
12:05 p.m.
Koten Chapel, Kiekhofer Hall