Events scheduled for Black History Month

NMSU’s Black Student Association in association with NMSU’s LGBT+ Programs and ASNMSU will present a live performance by Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. at Corbett Center auditorium. There is no charge to attend.

“We are excited that this particular event will crossover with Black History Month programming,” said NMSU LGBT+ Programs Director Zooey Sophia Pook, Ph.D.

Edidi is an advocate, educator and trans performance artist, according to the website. For more information, email lgbt@nmsu.edu or visit www.ladydanefe.com.

Doña Ana Community College (DACC) library will host six programs during Black History Month.

All events will take place in DACC’s East Mesa campus, DAAR building, room 203-F. All events are free of charge.

• 2-4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3: Film screening: “Color Adjustment: A History of African American Portrayal on Television,” an 86-minute documentary that aired during season five of PBS’ “Point of View” program in May 1992 and traces 40 years of race relations through the lens of primetime entertainment. From www.pbs.org/pov/watch/coloradjustment/: “From ‘Amos 'n' Andy’ to Nat King Cole, from ‘Roots’ to ‘The Cosby Show,’ blacks have played many roles on primetime television. Weaving clips from classic TV shows with commentary from TV producers, black actors and scholars, Director and Co-producer Marlon Riggs blends humor, insight, and thoughtful analysis to explore the evolution of black/white relations as reflected by America's addiction [to television].” Riggs (1957-94) was a filmmaker, educator poet and gay rights activist.
• 10 a.m.-noon, Wednesday, Feb. 5: Presentation: “Black History in Doña Ana County,” by DACC instructional librarian Jose Aranda, with special guest Grover Lee Pettes Sr., who turned 95 on Dec. 10 and was 1960-65 president of Doña Ana County NAACP. A native of Las Cruces, Pettes was a long-time painter and plumber for the U.S. Air Force and a fire-alarm systems specialist at Holloman Air Force Base. He served as president of the Booker T. Washington Elementary School and as a deacon and chairman at Bethel Second Baptist Church of Las Cruces. “In 2019, Pettes and his daughter Marilyn were panelists at the African American Museum and Cultural Center of New Mexico’s exhibition “The Virtue of Ownership,” where they discussed their family’s history in Blackdom, New Mexico, the first all-African American settlement in the state,” according to www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/grover-pettes.
  • 2-4 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 11: Film screening: “Black Is . . . Black Ain’t,” a 1995 documentary directed by Riggs, which IMBd described as, “a film about black experiences with a backdrop of Creole cooking." The film won the Filmmakers’ Trophy at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association. “The film marshals a powerful critique of sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, colorism and cultural nationalism in the black family, church and other black institutions,” according to Wright State University, which screened the film in 2016.
• 2-4 p.m., Wednesday, Feb 19: Film screening: “Souls of Black Girls: The Image of Women of Color in the Media,” a 2007 documentary by Brooklyn filmmaker Daphne Valerius. The film “raises the question of whether or not women of color may be suffering from a self-image disorder as a result of trying to attain the standards of beauty that are celebrated in media images,” according to www.soulsofblackgirls.com.
• 2-4 p.m., Wednesday, Feb 26.: Presentation: “A Look at Local Black History & Its Impact on Education for Years to Come,” by Henrietta Williams Pichon, PhD., an associate professor in New Mexico State University’s School of Teacher Preparation, Administration, and Leadership and a member of NMSU’s Educational Leadership and Administration Program faculty
• 2-4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 27: Film screening: “I Am Not Your Negro,” a 2017 Oscar-nominated documentary by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck based on James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript “Remember This House.” The film explores racism in America. Baldwin (1924-87) was a novelist, playwright and activist who was born in Manhattan but moved to Paris at age 24.

For more information, call 575-528-7260 or email library@dacc.nmsu.edu. Visit https://dacc.nmsu.edu/library/.