With Rousing Dances and Drumming, BMCC Celebrates Black History Month

Students from the Learning Tree Cultural School perform at the opening of BMCC's African Heritage Month celebration, in conjunction with Black History Month. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib 

Borough of Manhattan Community College commemorates Black History Month in a big way.

Kicking off the annual series of programs on Feb. 7 for what the organizers call “Afrikan Heritage Month” (to include all students who share African roots) was a rousing afternoon of African-inspired drumming and dance. Performers came from the African dance programs of the Learning Tree Cultural School in the Bronx and Channel View School for Research in Queens, and the Zante Sesame Flyers, a professional Caribbean dance troupe.

Photos by Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The celebration, which include films, lectures, concerts and other activities, has been a major staple at BMCC for years, but this was the first big one since the pandemic, noted Ashtian Holmes, the college’s director of the Urban Male Leadership Academy. “This year we got back to a regular celebration, so it’s exciting,” he said. 

The programs “energize” the students, said Holmes. “It shows them that the college values them, that their history and heritage is important and should be part of their education, and embraced throughout their education.” 

“We don’t view African Heritage month, Black History Month, as something we do symbolically or superficially,” Holmes added. “This is really rooted in our community.”