UCF students organize events for Black History Month since the university won’t acknowledge it

Black History Month, an annual observance recognized each February, first emerged in the U.S. in the early 20th century, during the post-Civil War Jim Crow era. It wasn’t a full month dedicated to Black history at first. It began as “Negro History Week.”

Dr. Robert Cassanello, an associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida and scholar on African American studies during the Jim Crow era, says this played an important role in the South.

“During the time of Jim Crow segregation, this was a way for Black folks to develop pride and understand their historical contributions to this country, and to communicate to white folks that would listen what their historical contributions were,” said Cassanello, author of the 2016 book, To Render Invisible: Jim Crow and Public Life in New South Jacksonville.

The University of Central Florida, where Cassanello teaches, typically recognizes Black History Month, too. After all, as Josh K. — an undergraduate student at UCF studying English Literature who asked that his surname be withheld — told Orlando Weekly, “This university has a lot of Black workers, Black faculty members who contribute significantly to the university’s daily function.”

It’s Florida’s largest public university by enrollment, with nearly 70,000 students and an operating budget of $2 billion as of last year. But students like Josh noticed this year that UCF had remained suspiciously quiet on the topic of Black History Month, despite publicly uplifting it in the past.

“A vital part of UCF’s culture is its focus on diversity and inclusion,” reads a 2022 online news post from UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication and Media, celebrating Black History Month.

That was before U.S. President Donald Trump re-entered the White House in January, and published an executive order threatening to defund schools that reject his new directive to eliminate diversity initiatives.

The tone on Black History Month on a federal level has, admittedly, been a mixed bag. While newly confirmed Department of Defense secretary (and former Fox News personality) Pete Hegseth last month ordered the end of recognizing “identity months” in the U.S. military, including Black History Month, President Trump hosted his own Black History Month celebration at the White House just this week, striking a chord that was reportedly celebratory for some.

“One of the big reasons I’m president today is because of the Black vote,” Trump gushed at the event, according to Politico.

Meanwhile, Florida’s Republican-controlled state Legislature and anti-“woke” Gov. Ron DeSantis teamed up to muscle through state legislation aiming to restrict instruction on racism and to gut diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from higher education.

As of this last month, there is no public message from UCF administration acknowledging Black History Month, and UCF’s calendar page for Black History Month literally appears blank.

UCF spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Orlando Weekly for this story.

Liam Gundy, a 23-year-old sociology student at UCF, believes that UCF’s lack of acknowledgement of Black History Month this year — contrary to previous years — is likely tied to Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders.

“Those orders don’t mention ethnic history months at all,” Gundy pointed out. Still, “It’s not surprising that they’re kind of acting preemptively subservient to it,” he said.

Florida has been considered a leader of the recent targeted efforts across the U.S. by the right wing to remove so-called “indoctrination” and “wokeness” from education — an effort that critics have said, in practice, has a chilling effect on educators and restricts academic freedom.

“Bottom line: Big Brother is watching. He is taking names,” a University of Florida professor and self-described conservative reportedly wrote in an email to his colleagues. “I’m on their ‘woke’ list!” the faculty member continued. “I’m the faculty advisor for the Federalist Society, for the Law School Republicans, and for the Christian Legal Society. If they find me threatening, the rest of you are dead in the water.”

According to a 2023 report from the American Association of University Professors, other faculty around the state have described a “Kafkaesque” atmosphere and “an incredible climate of fear” following the enactment of the state legislation. Job security and one’s reputation as an educator, after all, are on the line.

Cassanello, a former president of UCF’s faculty union and a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Florida’s so-called “Stop WOKE” Act, said UCF faculty have largely avoided prodding UCF about the lack of recognition of Black History Month, in part due to this climate of fear.

“You just don’t know what’s coming down the pipe from UCF,” he told Orlando Weekly.

He posits that UCF is taking an approach of “anticipatory obedience,” a term described by the AAUP as “acting to comply in advance of any pressure to do so.”

“What we see with this DEI effort and ‘Stop WOKE’ Act and things like this, it’s an effort by the Legislature and the governor to really strip people of color [and] gender and sexuality minorities from the history of this country, in order to overemphasize the impact of white male heterosexual,” said Cassanello.

Students like Gundy and Josh, however, aren’t as willing to let threats from right-wing politicians erase or otherwise undermine observances like Black History Month from the UCF campus. The UCF chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, of which both Josh and Gundy are members, is organizing a Black History Month event of its own: an “African Americans and Labor” faculty-student panel that will be held at the Student Union on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

The United Faculty of Florida, the university’s faculty union, is co-sponsoring the event, because of its ties to labor. Panelists will include Josh K., a Black student himself who will be speaking on the history of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, formed by auto workers in Detroit in the 1960s. Others from around the region, including Seminole State College professor Trent Tomengo and UCF student Marissa Bellinger, will speak on topics such as the Harlem Renaissance and artists’ depictions of working people at the time, and early efforts by organized Black teachers in Florida in the 1930s and ’40s to fight for equal pay.

“In this state, where there’s been a threat to academic freedom, not only are there teachers here, but there are students,” Cassanello emphasized, harking back to earlier movements of student resistance. “It’s kind of remarkable,” he added, that students are going to be “sort of holding the torch” for traditions that the administration has walked back from.

Fabian Ramirez, a 22-year-old history and political science student at UCF, told Orlando Weekly that YDSA has also reached out to other campus groups to ask if they’d like to co-sponsor. He’s concerned that this silence from the administration could just be the start of a trend of “anticipatory obedience” moving forward.

“We wonder if this is also going to continue to next month, Women’s History Month,” Ramirez noted. “But yeah, for us, it’s a matter of celebrating diversity, celebrating history [and] celebrating academic freedom.”

Gundy said their group — reportedly, one of the largest YDSA chapters in the country — has seen an increase in membership at UCF since Trump was elected and took office. They expect even more students will be inspired to organize moving forward.

“We have the foresight to know that things are going to get much worse, but are hopeful,” Gundy said. “As organizers, you know, crisis is a means of mobilizing social movements.”

Others on campus have also organized Black History Month-themed events, despite the UCF administration’s apparent silence on the matter. The UCF student government is organizing a Black Business Showcase on Thursday, Feb. 27, to show support for small Black-owned businesses in the community. UCF organizations are also hosting a Black History Month All-Star Basketball Game at UCF’s Education Complex & Gym on Friday, Feb. 28. The UCF student government’s Black Caucus also wrote its own proclamation commemorating Black History Month.

Elsewhere, the story is different. Florida Atlantic University, located in South Florida, for instance, published its own blog post commemorating Black History Month. Even the Florida Department of Education acknowledged the annual designation, encouraging students in January to participate in Black History Month-themed art and essay contests.

“Florida is committed to teaching students about African American history and the role African Americans have played in Florida’s success,” Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. claimed in a statement. “I encourage all students to participate in the Black History Month art and essay contests and immerse themselves in Florida’s history.”

Cassanello, a tenured professor who’s less afraid to speak out publicly than some of his colleagues, believes that celebrating Black History Month is more than just a symbolic gesture.

“It’s really important that people recognize themselves in the history of their nation,” he shared. For a long time, he explained, African Americans, women, and gender and sexual minorities just weren’t mentioned or acknowledged. “So, for us, celebrating Black History Month is important to correct that, and give people a chance to see themselves in history.”

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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.