Pitt Marks Black History Month with a Series of Events

K. Leroy Irvis

Pitt’s Black History Month celebrations kick off in earnest this week, with scheduled guest speakers, panel discussions and a step dance performance taking place throughout February.

A full list of programming can be found on Pitt’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion site

Highlights include a discussion about the history of African Americans' right to vote and the rise of Black elected officials, taking place from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Community Engagement Center in Homewood, and the release of "Race, Justice, and Activism in Literacy Instruction," a new book by Valerie Kinloch, the Renée and Richard Goldman Dean of the School of Education. Kinloch will discuss the topic at noon Feb. 25 in Room 4303 of Posvar Hall.  

Details are forthcoming for Pitt’s signature K. Leroy Irvis Black History Month Program, which will be a four-day festival from Feb. 26-29 celebrating art, music and poetry as a form of activism and social justice. In 2008, the University named its annual Black History Month event to honor the memory of the legendary Pennsylvania legislative leader, Pitt alumnus (LAW '54) and emeritus trustee. Irvis (pictured here), who in 1977 became the first African American speaker of the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania and the first Black speaker of any statehouse since the Reconstruction Era, sponsored the 1966 bill that made Pitt a state-related institution of higher education.

Black History Month is celebrated every February to acknowledge the contributions of those of African descent to our nation’s life and culture.