As Black History Month begins, Penn State is hosting a full slate of events to honor and celebrate Black history throughout February.

The School of Music will host an African American music festival from Tuesday, February 1, to Saturday, February 5. For the first four days of the festival, there will be a rotation of different artists performing every night. On February 5, there will be a Combined Choir concert composed of Penn State choirs and guest artists.

There will also be several panels that cover a wide variety of topics. Some of these include Black Americans’ influence on farming, College of Information Sciences and Technology alumni and their experiences in the workforce, and Community Conversations, which is a forum for people to have difficult conversations in a safe and open environment.

As one of the month’s major events, Dr. Bernice A. King will speak to Penn State students, faculty, and staff at 12:30 p.m. on February 22 via Zoom. She’s the youngest child of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and the CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, otherwise, known as the King Center. The organization was founded by her mother, Coretta Scott King, in 1968.

These days, King continues the work both her parents started with the “Nonviolence365” philosophy. Nonviolence365 was King Jr.’s fundamental belief that nonviolence was the way to achieve equality. What started for him as six principles have turned into a long-running program that his daughter continues to run to this day. King now educates youth and adults about the nonviolent principles that both of her parents modeled.

If you are interested in learning about more events that will be happening this month, check out the entire list here.