According to the “Heritage & Health Series” calendar presented by the Associated Students of Foothill College (ASFC), Foothill will be celebrating Black History Month in February of next year with events and speakers. The “Heritage & Health Series” is a year-long calendar of events planned out for the multi-cultural Foothill community to embrace the diversity on campus.

Although it’s not for two more months, planning for events has been underway for quite some time. This year’s planning committee has laid out a chronology of events for Black History Month themed “Breaking Barriers Beyond Belief.” The lineup already includes music, dance, read-ins, historical synthesis, photography, tours, film, and refreshments, all with the goal of exposing Foothill to African-American culture.

“I don’t know what they teach nowadays, but Thurgood Marshall is somebody we should know.” quips Kamara Tramble, Student Accounts Manager of Foothill College.

Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American justice of the America’s Supreme Court. Despite his significance as a civil rights figure, Marshall is often neglected in modern academia.

Black culture and heritage are not always themes in academic curricula, which is exactly the role Black History Month seeks to fill. However, there are obstacles to overcome for event success: limited resources, time, funds, and manpower.

While financial issues are indeed noteworthy to Tramble, advertising the events to the student-community was at the top of her mind as well.

“We want to get the word out, [matching] the relevance of the event to the climate of that time. … When we spend the money, we want students to come… [there are] so many possibilities but only so much time.”

Student participation in the events are important, but so is student engagement in the planning process.

“It would be interesting to have students participate… if there are any students that are part of Umoja that like to be on a panel,” said Fountainetta Coleman, a staff member at Foothill.

The Umoja community is a closely-bonded campus community group which offers comprehensive student support programs to promote student success.

“I seriously would like to see more students in these meetings! We need y’all! Its for you!” Coleman expressed herself in a cheerful disposition.

Foothill students chair the planning committees — doing so gives them eligibility to earn one academic unit and resume documentation for their contributions.

Black History Month begins February 2018. More information on future campus events can be found on the Foothill Event Calendar.