PHOTO | Damara Hale
Gas masks, traffic lights, potato chips, peanut butter, home security systems, Super Soaker water gun, the clock, refrigerated trucks and elevator doors are just some of the many inventions in history created by Black inventors that we use in our everyday lives. With history all around us, it only makes sense to get to know more about this history.
Students were invited to the “Black History Month Game Night” presented by The ATU African American Student Association and the Student Activities Board, the first collaboration of both organizations to host the event. SAB Nighttime Events Chair and MC, Jae Thomas, proposed the event. Learning, he said, was what he hoped would be the attendees’ great takeaway.
“I want to take away that people were open and willing to learn, you know something that they most likely don’t know,” Thomas said. “That’s why we’re starting out with that trivia, just for people to know the whole point of this event is so that you can learn, so that you can interact with other people, have meaningful discussions about these new ideas and new events from history that you’re learning about.”
The game night included two main events: Black History Trivia Kahoot and a UNO tournament. There six prizes, three for each event. Prizes included Air pod pros, a JBL speaker, Sony headphones, Nintendo switch, a massage gun and a virtual reality console.
Students that participated in the Black History Trivia Kahoot said the event may have influenced how they will look at life moving forward.
Graduate student Calvin Allen from Bryant, a communications major, said he enjoyed the event.
“I mean this event was pretty cool, especially with it being the first time Tech hosting this, so I think it’s pretty cool. The trivia was nice, the questions was spread out, so it was a very good event,”
Jacqueline Hernandez from Bentonville, a rehab science major, said she liked the variety the event offered.
“I wanted to, kind of like, see how much I knew, and I think I really liked it cause it was just a wide variety of it,” Hernandez said. “I liked having events like this ‘cause diversity is important.”
Tyliyah Campbell of Grady, a criminal justice major with a minor in business and entrepreneurship, said Black History Month has great meaning to her.
“It means empowerment,” Campbell said, “where I get to be a higher part of myself, my Black excellence actually shows and I can actually be that around everyone.”
Campbell also discussed so far what her experience of Black History Month at a predominantly white institution has been.
“You’re not able to be yourself all the time,” Campbell said. “Black History Month let’s my light shine.”
Cynsere Ryan of Conway, a psychology major, explained what Black History Month looks like to him.
“It’s the one time out of the year where we get to celebrate us, like all of our accomplishments, what we don’t get recognized for, what we do get recognized for what can we make better for next year, what can we do differently,” Ryan said. “We don’t get to do it all year round.”
Jace Bridges of Fayetteville, a social studies education major, discussed what Black History Month means to him.
“It’s like a celebration of the triumphs of Black people and how we are still here and still creating history.”
With more events planned for Black History Month and multiple Tech organizations sharing Black history facts throughout the month on their social media pages, it leaves room for more people to learn about what Black history is all about.
“There’s a lot more for me to learn, there’s a lot more for everybody to learn and you can never learn too much,” Bridges said.
