Black History Trivia Night highlights African American achievements, more BSU events to come

BY CJ GIBSON

Black Student Union’s Black History Trivia Night brought attention to African American history through trivia and the chance to win prizes.

Because the Black Student Union (BSU) had funds leftover from last spring semester, they were able to provide some valuable prizes for the events’ winners, including an air fryer, a waffle iron, a toaster, and gift cards.

Black History Trivia Night took place on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6:00 p.m. to celebrate Black History Month as it neared its end.

Danzel Major, BSU president, designed the Kahoots that were used, which became progressively more difficult throughout the three rounds. Major used these Kahoots to reveal startling facts about African American history, including the declaration of lynching as a federal hate crime in February 2020.

“My main goal is not to make someone feel as if they’re being attacked but to educate people about not just Black history but the history of Black people in America,” Major said. “A lot of people didn’t know that lynching became a hate crime in law almost last year. That’s one of those things that I want people to learn about.”

Posters of famous historical African Americans circled the Memorial Union Black & Gold Room where the event was held, highlighting important African American achievements.

“Black History Month is a reason to put highlights on Black history,” Major said. “You look around the room and you have people who have achieved so much just by being them: Josephine Baker, she helped take down the Nazi regime as a Black female spy, and I think that’s something that needs to be highlighted but you never hear about that. People think George Washington Carver just made peanut butter, but if it wasn’t for him a lot of farmers wouldn’t have been able to survive the Great Depression. A lot of black people have contributed heavily to the advancement of not just black people but all Americans. I think that’s why Black History is so important.”

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Major explained that this was the first time BSU has done a trivia event like Black History Trivia Night before, and he thanked the rest of the Black Student Union team for helping make the trivia night a success.

“My vice president, Chyler Backstrom, she really helped. She said, ‘How about we do a trivia?’ And I was like, ‘That sounds great.’ And then from that point on we all discussed how we should do it, and my team came through, really. They helped make it smooth,” Major said.

BSU will be hosting an event on Thursday, at 5:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union Black & Gold Room called “Don’t Touch my Hair: Conversations about Hair and Race.” The event will involve a presentation about natural hair followed by a BSU panel and a natural hair product giveaway.

BSU also plans on holding another discussion in April to spread domestic violence and sexual assault awareness.