“The Table” Student Organization Supports Minority Students, Shares Black Culture with King’s

In Fall 2016, a group of African American and Hispanic staff and students at The King’s College began meeting together and hosting events to facilitate a community of belonging for Black and Hispanic students at King’s.

President Thornbury and TKC students performing
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In Fall 2016, a group of African American and Hispanic staff and students at The King’s College began meeting together tofacilitate a communityof belonging for Black and Hispanic students at King’s. The Table was formalized as a student organization in 2017, led by Taylor Johnson (President), Koby Jackson (Vice President), Enoma Osakue (Missions and Values Director), Tatiana Lanier (Events Coordinator), and Angel Boyd (Creative Director). In the 2017-2018 academic year, The Table’s leadership team will be Enoma Osakue (President), Abena Anim-Somuah (Vice President), Jozsef Pagan (Missions and Values Director), Chelsy Haynes (Events Coordinator), and Zoe Jones (Creative Director).

This academic year, The Table shared Black cultural experiences with their classmates through a movie night featuring long lost Black films hosted by Associate Professor of English and Film Bearden Coleman. Later in February, in honor of Black History Month, the Table and the Events Committee co-hosted an open-mic event called Starlight Art Night. This event provided an avenue for the student body at King’s to appreciate music, poetry, theater, and film inspired by African American history and culture.

WATCH: See all performances from Starlight Art Night

Angel Boyd (‘19) spearheaded the planning for Starlight Art Night by reaching out to select classmates asking them to perform or create pieces inspired by Black history. “When I was coming up with the list of people to email,” Boyd said, “I knew I was putting names on the list for whom this type of theme would be a challenge. I knew that these artists are good at what they normally do, and so I wanted to challenge them to create art differently than I had seen them do before.”

Boyd also connected with Chris Cragin-Day, Assistant Professor of English and Theater. Cragin-Day was enthused by the idea, and wrote a short play about gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, called the godmother of rock and roll. In the play, Sister Rosetta (Katherine George, a recent graduate of Brooklyn College) convinces a belligerent Elvis Presley (Zachary Owens) to join her in singing “There Are Strange Things Happening Every Day,” accompanied by President Gregory A. Thornbury on guitar. Though this was George’s first introduction to King’s, she has previously collaborated with Cragin-Day in The Unusual Tale of Mary & Joseph’s Baby (Don Chaffer and Chris Cragin-Day, 2016).

Response to the event was overwhelming. Professors brought their families and students filled the City Room to capacity. In addition to Cragin-Day’s play, the talent night featured original spoken word poetry by Trivette Knowles, Yashaddai Owens, Sarah Fox, and Enoma Osakue. “I am every much divine inspiration as the thunder that strikes the ground / my thick lips and wide hips were not an accident but they were designed,” Osakue (‘18) recited. Professor Bearden Coleman also showed a short clip from the film “Black Girl” (dir. Ousmane Sembène, 1966).

Celina Garnett sang an original song based on the narrative of a runaway slave, and Evelyn Stetzer delivered Langston Hughes’s poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” to a guitar accompaniment. Tendai Savage performed a spoken word poem, “Twins,” inspired by her mother and grandmother’s experiences during the Civil Rights Movement. Joleinn Vasquez accompanied her on keyboard with an original score. “I’d never performed a piece I had written before a live audience before,” Savage (‘17) said, “So I was especially thankful to Starlight Art Night for giving me and Joleinn the chance to create something from scratch on a subject very dear to us.”

The night also included performances of music by Black artists, including a mash-up of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up” (Caroline Walker), the spiritual “Oh Freedom” (Abbey Watt), Billie Holliday’s “Strange Fruit” (Abigayle Roper), and Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” (Angel Boyd). The Starlight Art Night spotify playlist includes these tracks as well as other pieces by African American artists.

Boyd hopes that the conversation that Starlight Art Night generated will continue on campus, and her team plans to host more events like this in the future. “I had students coming up to me after the event, saying there was no better way to get introduced to The Table; we understand you more,” Boyd said.

Zoe Jones (MCA ‘19), an audience member, said, “The art that was displayed showed true vulnerability. I had the privilege of bringing my mother to that event, and at the end of the night she was in tears. Even though she didn’t know the majority of the performers, she and others in the audience were touched by the grace and honesty of the different performances.”

During the event, Cragin-Day sat next to Katherine George, who played Sister Rosetta Tharpe: “She kept leaning over to me all night saying things like, ‘this is such a beautiful community,’ and ‘I love the way your college supports their students of color,’ and ‘this is so beautiful, to see the students of color at this college so validated.’ [The Table] pulled off a spectacular night that, I think, is going to have a lasting impact for good on King’s.”

Starlight Art Night was one of several events this year that sparked discussion around race and Black history: a panel discussion on overcriminalization and mass incarceration led by Associate Professor of Religious Studies Dr. Anthony Bradley at the Princeton Club; a panel discussion entitled “Race Matters: Diversity in the King’s Community” moderated by Dean of Students David Leedy; and the annual Black History Month speaker, this year Pastor Harlan Redmond.


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