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Center for Black Studies named 2021 Cultural Center of the Year

December 8, 2021

In a year of challenging times, NIU’s Center for Black Studies triumphed.

NIU’s Center for Black Studies was awarded the 2021 Cultural Center of the Year award from the Association of black Cultural Centers (ABCC).

The center recently earned the 2021 Cultural Center of the Year award from the Association of Black Cultural Centers (ABCC). Chosen from among peers at universities and colleges throughout the country, the Center for Black Studies provided extensive support, advocacy, education and empowerment in the midst of a global pandemic and racial injustice.

“I think this award speaks to our level of hard work,” said Dr. Anne Edwards, the center’s director. “For us, it’s validation of all the work that we have been doing, not just the staff at the center, but all of the individual contributions and how they just poured into the collective.”

Because the recognition comes from peers, it takes on added significance, Edwards said.

“So many other cultural centers are doing good work,” she said. “It’s just a deep, deep honor to be chosen.”

ABCC encourages its members and affiliates to build community among ethnic groups through culture centers at colleges and universities. The organization seeks to celebrate, promote and explore the historical and contemporary connections African descended people have with Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans, while enhancing individual, community and global development.

As the association’s 2021 Cultural Center of the Year, NIU’s Center for Black Studies has gained the recognition it deserves.

“I am incredibly proud of NIU’s Center for Black Studies for their tireless efforts to advocate, education and empower our students,” NIU President Lisa C. Freeman said.

Anne Edwards, director of the Center for Black Studies.

Celebrating 50 years in 2021, NIU’s Center for Black Studies tackled the two primary themes of “living through a time of pandemic” and “continuing to march toward racial justice and equality.”

As described in the center’s 2021 annual report, the fall of 2020 brought racism to the steps of the center with the writing of a racial slur on the center’s building.

“From a town hall of over 200 Black students to student-led protests, hundreds of students across campus used their collective voices to enact change,” the report states.

Numerous programs, initiatives and events—offered both in person and virtually—engaged the campus and the community throughout the year.

Among the most impactful was the “Hateful Things” traveling exhibition, sponsored by the Center for Black Studies and the Friends of the NIU Libraries and hosted in the Pick Museum. Developed by the Jim Crow Museum for Racist Memorabilia, the exhibit featured more than a century of negative iconography that shaped the way that people perceived and interacted with Black people from the end of the Civil War and into the 21st Century.

The center offered co-curricular events and initiatives inspired by the exhibit, including 10 guided tours to NIU classes, a virtual guided tour and the development of lesson plans inspired by the exhibit for middle and secondary level learners.

Events throughout the year included several town halls and panel discussions, as well as featured speakers, such as Dr. Stanley Arnold’s presentation of “Beacons of Their Race: African America and the Olympics, 1896-1948.”

The center’s many retention programs, including the Black Male Initiative, John Henrik Clarke Honor Society, the Black Student Achievement program and others, also flourished.

“Although the year of COVID-19 offered its challenges, we feel that we were flexible and responsive in continuing to bring quality and engaging programming to the whole of the NIU community,” Edwards said.

“Overall, the staff of the Center for Black Studies provided excellent support, advocacy, and education. The creativity of the staff in programming, academic courses, and ways to provide student support while simultaneously navigating their own personal experiences is to be commended.”