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�԰����� celebrates and acknowledges Black history in February and year-round and is proud of all the remarkable contributions made by our Black and African-American students, faculty, staff, and alumni. The national theme for Black History Month 2023 is “Black Resistance.”

As the late �԰����� history professor Carey Latimore said , “Sometimes when we talk about Black history we talk about all the difficult things that Black people have been through—and that’s certainly part of the story—but I want people to focus on the successes and the hope and the optimism and what Black people have contributed through those obstacles—so it’s a way of looking at Black history in an empowering way—for all of us to take part in and to enjoy and to really see the contributions African-Americans have made throughout the entirety of our existence in America.”

Please join the Humanities Collective and the Student Diversity and Inclusion Office at , on Tuesday, February 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Coates Library, Room 103, to celebrate Douglass’s birthday and to help create new Black history resources for the public. This transcribe-athon has become a staple Black History Month event at �԰�����, with dozens of students and professors contributing in 2022.

While Douglass never knew his birthdate, he chose to celebrate every year on Valentine’s Day, February 14. Today, Douglass Day continues as an annual birthday celebration and as a moment for creating Black history together. Each year, thousands of people gather across the country for a transcribe-a-thon where they help produce Black history learning resources via a crowdsourcing project. This year, �԰����� participants will help transcribe the papers of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, one of the first Black women to serve as a newspaper editor, who also attended law school and served as a civil war recruiter.

Please be on the lookout for more Black history month activities this month and beyond.

�԰����� faculty, staff, students, alumni, and families participated in San Antonio's 2023 MLK Jr. March holding TRINITY signs.

Our 2023 activities started with an in-person return to the 36th annual San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. March after the march went virtual in 2021 and 2022 because of covid-19 concerns. “Together We Can Be THE Dream,” was the 2023 theme for the nation’s largest MLK Jr. march, which included members of the Alamo Trust marching in honor of the late Dr. Carey Latimore.

Members of the San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission visited �԰����� in November 2022 to produce the programs and activities for their 2023 calendar.

�԰����� hosted the San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission on campus last fall and facilitated a strategy retreat with Commission Chair Dwayne Robinson and the commissioners that helped the commission produce the full set of programs and activities for the 2023 calendar.

Caitlin Dickerson, left, speaks with Ladystacie Rimes-Boyd, J.D., on the Laurie Auditorium stage for the 2023 MLK Jr. commemorative lecture.

We held our annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Lecture with Caitlin Dickerson, a Peabody and Edward R. Murrow award-winning investigative journalist from The Atlantic, who previously worked for the New York Times and NPR. The gathering with Dickerson, an immigration-focused reporter, was the last official activity of the 2023 San Antonio Martin Luther King, Jr Commission.

A gift visit from Texas Public Radio, to �԰����� on Monday, January 30th for an intimate interactive session. Talía Rangel, a first- year student, served as a moderator for the session with the artist. Konshens shared with students, faculty, and staff about his personal creative process and performed, .��

The Legacy of Excellence is in its second year. The program exists to provide more holistic support for our Black and African American students and to help students make �԰����� home by connecting students with alumni who have similar lived experiences being a college student at �԰�����. It stems from the work and effort of the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force that formed in Summer 2020. This program is about valuing our Black and African American students, their experience at �԰�����, and supporting their success inside and outside the classroom.��
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