The Association for the Study of African American Life and History brings us the 2025 National Black History Month theme, African Americans and Labor, which focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.  Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture. Considering Black people’s work through the widest perspectives provides versatile and insightful platforms for examining Black life and culture through time and space. 

The theme, “African Americans and Labor,” intends to encourage broad reflections on intersections between Black people’s work and their workplaces in all their iterations and key moments, themes, and events in Black history and culture across time and space and throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. Like religion, social justice movements, and education, studying African Americans’ labor and labor struggles are important organizing foci for new interpretations and reinterpretations of the Black past, present, and future. Such new considerations and reconsiderations are even more significant as the historical forces of racial oppression gather new and renewed strength in the 21st century.

The Black Print: The Hands That Build Nations, beautifully aligns with the national theme, "African Americans and Labor," by highlighting the immense contributions of Black individuals in building and shaping societies. By celebrating these contributions, the themes collectively recognize the resilience, ingenuity, and strength of the Black community in shaping nations and their histories. This connection underscores the importance of acknowledging and honoring Black labor and its transformational impact throughout time.

•  Meet Daniel Gray-Kontar, BNAACC's new Associate Director of Arts & Cultural Programming
  • Date: Wednesday, February 5th
  • Time: 12 - 1 PM
  • Location: BNAACC; 1212 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL

•  Chicago Footwork as Resistance, The Power in Every Step - the University of Illinois System Black Cultural Centers Collaboration 
  • Date: Thursday, February 6th
  • Time: Depart at 1:00 PM
  • Location: University of Illinois Chicago - Black Cultural Center
  • RSVP: https://go.illinois.edu/BHMFieldTrip 
  • Note: Transportation and Dinner Provided

• From Soul Train To House: How the Youth of Chicago Sowed Loved, Freedom, and Resistance to Create Global Musical Revolution
  • Date: Tuesday, February 11th
  • Time: 7:00 pm
  • Location: Illini Union, Courtyard Cafe 

• Art, History and Social Responsibility W/ Dr. Ruby Mendenhall
  • Date: Wednesday, February 12th 
  • Time: 12pm - 1pm 
  • Location: BNAACC; 1212 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL

• Jollof Cook-off! 
  • Date: Tuesday, February 18th
  • Time: 5:00 - 7:00 PM
  • Location: 1867 in the Illinois Street Dining Center (ISR Dining Center); 1010 W Illinois St, Urbana, IL 61801 
  • Sign-up To Be A Chef: https://go.illinois.edu/Jollof 

• Exploring Family Ancestral Histories Through Genetic Genealogy w/Dr. Lakisha T. David
  • Date: Wednesday, February 19th 
  • Time: 12 - 1 PM
  • Location: BNAACC; 1212 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL

• Becoming Malcolm X & Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. w/ Dr. Alexia Williams
  • Date: Wednesday, February 26th 
  • Time: 12 - 1 PM
  • Location: BNAACC; 1212 W. Nevada St., Urbana, IL 61801