About the Cultural Programming Committee
The Cultural Programming Committee supports the academic curriculum by organizing on-campus and off-campus lectures, panel discussions, debates, concerts, readings, workshops, performances, and other culturally enriching events in Danielson and Willimantic. The committee seeks to engage students, staff, faculty, and community members with dynamic programs to educate against all forms of prejudice and injustice, while educating towards mutual respect, genuine inquiry, personal growth, and multicultural affirmation.
February is Black History Month
Poetry Reading and Open Mic: Waiting for Yoko Series
The Spring 2023 Waiting for Yoko Series: “Celebrating Black History with Poet Frederick Douglass-Knowles,” will include a reading by Knowles in the Spirol Gallery, followed by an open mic. Light snacks and refreshments will be available.
Event Details:
Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 6:30 PM
Spirol Gallery, QVCC, Danielson, CT
Students, faculty, staff, and community members welcome
Streaming Film: BlacKkKlansman
A black detective sets out to infiltrate the Colorado chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of his Jewish colleague. In the midst of the 1970s civil rights movement, they risk their lives to obtain insider information on the violent organization.
NOTE: You must login using your NetID and password to access free streaming for this film.
Programs
Explore
The Cultural Programming Committee provides a variety of opportunities to connect with each month’s topics. Want to revisit resources from a previous month? Select your subject below to explore related books, films, and outside organizations.
Presentation: An Afro-Caribbean in the Nazi Era: Oral History and Black History
How did an Afro-Caribbean civilian become a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II? How did he survive to tell about it? The QVCC Foundation, in partnership with QVCC Cultural Programming, is proud to welcome author Mary Romney-Schaab to present on her book, An Afro-Caribbean in the Nazi Era: From Papiamentu to German on Friday, February 10th in the Quinebaug Valley Community College auditorium. This presentation will discuss the importance of oral history within the context of Black history and shine light on an area of Black history that might otherwise remain obscured: that of Black victims of the Nazis during World War II.
Event Details:
Friday, February 10, 2023 10:30 AM
QVCC Auditorium, Danielson, CT
Students, faculty, staff, and community members welcome
Celebrate Native American Heritage Month!
Peabody Essex Museum houses among the oldest ongoing collections of Native American art in the Western hemisphere, commencing with the museum’s founding in 1799 and continuing through today. Spanning 10,000 years of Indigenous visual expression in the Americas, these works cross boundaries of region, period, and medium, and emphasize the continuum of creativity and character of change that undergirds Native American art. This distinguished collection is a vital testament to thousands of individual artists from hundreds of distinct Native nations, each with its own history, language, and artistic expressions. Visit the museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
On Being Podcast: Few books have been more eagerly passed from hand to hand with delight in these last years than Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. Krista interviewed her in 2015, and it quickly became a much-loved show as her voice was just rising in common life. Robin is a botanist and also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She’s written, “Science polishes the gift of seeing, Indigenous traditions work with gifts of listening and language.” An expert in moss — a bryologist — she describes mosses as the “coral reefs of the forest.” Robin Wall Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence in all kinds of life we are used to naming and imagining as inanimate.
National Museum of the American Indian – Native American Cinema Showcase Nov. 18-25th
The online program includes a total of 35 cost free films representing 30 native nations from 8 countries.
Livestream – Native Veteran’s Procession and Dedication Ceremony
Nov. 11 at 2 p.m.
Weekend Celebrations – Music and Cultural Performances
Nov. 12 & 13
Visit Nowashe Village, an outdoor museum of indigenous life in South Windsor, CT.
CPC Film Series: Thunderheart scheduled (in auditorium) for 11/16 (Wednesday) @ 5:30 pm.
Introduction by Instructor Cory McClellan
Resources
Local/State
Windham NAACP
QVCC Anti-Racism Research Guide
Prudence Crandall Museum (Canterbury CT)
Black History Month 2022 Events (Journal Inquirer)
10 Events to Celebrate Black History Month in CT (CT Post)
Black History Month at CT Stages, Museums, and Libraries
National
Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
African American Wellness Project
National Black Women’s Justice Institute (NBWJI)
Black History Month 2022 | National Museum of African American History and Culture (si.edu)
Media
The Color of Medicine (Documentary)
Basic Black: Mental Health and Loneliness (Discussion)
Therapy for Black Girls (Podcast)
From the Library
All eyes are upon us : race and politics from Boston to Brooklyn
Sokol, Jason author.
New York : Basic Books [2014]
Reserve a copy
Prudence Crandall’s Legacy: The Fight for Equality in the 1830s, Dred Scott, and Brown v. Board of Education
Williams, Donald E., Jr., 1957-
Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press [2014]
Reserve a copy
Making Freedom: The Extraordinary Life of Venture Smith
Saint, Chandler B. ; Krimsky, George A.
Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press [2009]
Reserve a copy
African American Connecticut Explored
Normen, Elizabeth J.
Middletown, Connecticut : Wesleyan University Press [2013]
Reserve a copy
Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities
Wilder, Craig Steven author.
New York : Bloomsbury Press 2013
Reserve a copy
A Whole-Souled Woman : Prudence Crandall and the Education of Black Women
Strane, Susan.
New York : W.W. Norton c1990
Reserve a copy
More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Connecticut Women
Petrash, Antonia.
Guilford, Conn. : Twodot ©2004
Reserve a copy
Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem
Nelson, Marilyn, 1946- ; Espeland, Pamela, 1951-
Asheville, N.C. : Front Street c2004
Reserve a copy
Resources
Local/State
Women’s Suffrage in Connecticut
Connecticut Council on Women and Girls
Connecticut Archives of the National Women’s Law Center
Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut Report on the Status of Women and Girls in Eastern CT
National
The Toni Morrison Society
National Women’s History Project
National Women’s History Museum
The Library of Congress – Women’s History Month
International
About Berta Cáceres
International Women’s Day 2022 #Breakthebias
Stream for Free
NOTE: You must login using your NetID and password to access free streaming for the films below.
THE WILLMAR 8 (1980)
Rating: NR
Runtime: 50min
THE STORY OF ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND SUSAN B. ANTHONY (2005)
Rating: NR
Runtime: 1hr35min
A MIDWIFE’S TALE (2011)
Rating: NR
Runtime: 90min
SILVER WINGS, FLYING DREAMS: THE COMPLETE STORY OF THE WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS (2015)
Rating: NR
Runtime: 55min
THE VOTE (2020)
Rating: NR
Runtime: 1hr55min
Overview
On the 24th of February, 2022, Russia began a military invasion of Ukraine. Keeping up with the conflict, figuring out how and why it happened, and understanding how it affects you can be difficult. This guide is designed to provide basic information and links for those who want to explore in more depth.
Important Dates
4/2 – World Autism Day
A day that seeks to raise awareness of the lives and contributions of people with autism.
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4/21-4/23 – Gathering of Nations
More than 500 Native tribes meet and celebrate various traditions and cultures.
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4/22 – Earth Day
A celebration of the planet we live on, observed internationally in more than 192 countries.
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Religious Dates
4/2 – First Day of Ramadan (Islamic)
The first day of Islam’s sacred month in which Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dusk until dawn.
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4/15 – Passover (Jewish)
Start of Jewish holiday honoring the freeing of Israeli slaves.
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4/17 – Easter (Christian)
Most important holy day in the Christian faith, celebrates the resurrection of Jesus following his death.
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