In the News
Muskingum University to Host Two Community Events for Black History Month
Muskingum is hosting two events in honor of Black History Month. Both events are free and open to the public.
On Monday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. in the Boyd Science Center, Room 336, Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries will present “Putting in the Work to Preserve Democracy.” His presentation aligns with the 2025 national Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor.” Dr. Jeffries will explore the importance of African Americans laboring for freedom, past and present, drawing lessons from history to inspire and guide contemporary efforts to preserve democracy.
Dr. Jeffries teaches, researches, and writes about the African American experience from a historical perspective. He has chronicled the civil rights movement in the 10-episode Audible Originals series “Great Figures of the Civil Rights Movement,” and has told the remarkable story of the original Black Panther Party in Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt, which has been praised as “the book historians of the black freedom movement have been waiting for.”
Hasan also has collaborated on several public history projects, including serving as the lead scholar and primary scriptwriter for the $27 million redesign of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He currently serves as the chairperson of the Board of Directors of The Montpelier Foundation, which stewards the Virginia estate of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and the architect of the Constitution.
The community also is invited to a Jazz Club Event on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Chess Center. This event will feature live jazz music, snacks, and a brief educational component highlighting the cultural and historical significance of jazz within African American culture.
The event is organized by Muskingum’s Office of Cultural Engagement and Inclusion, the Black Student Union, the Music Department, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
For more information about both events, contact Coordinator of Cultural Engagement and Inclusion David McDonald at davidm@muskingum.edu.