By Jozy Prabhu

Staff Writer

On the fifth floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library is the African Diaspora Cultural Exhibit in honor of Black History Month.

Environmental studies graduate student Ashari Taylor-Watson shared her excitement for all the events taking place on campus over this month.

“[I’m] humbled by the African Diaspora Exhibition, to see the ones who fought for me and my generation, shows the resilience of my people,” Taylor-Watson said. “It is so important for me to learn my history and remember those who fought for me to even attend San Jose State, they paved the way for my dreams.”

Dental teacher for Carrington College, Pamela Farley also expresses pride over the exhibit.

“Some of my artifacts from home are in that case over there,” Farley said as she gestured to the glass display with different types of African dolls.

Farley heard about the exhibit from Patience Awazi, African-Atlantic coast culture and cuisine expert.

Awazi had contacted Farley and many others to organize the exhibit, as well as plan the exhibition’s opening day.

“[The African Diaspora] Exhibit looks from the past to the present, to the future,” Awazi said. “So in the beginning [of the exhibit], we start with famous African Americans we all know, you might see some you know.”

Awazi then pointed to a photo of a man from the oldest dynasty in Africa standing with African-Americans partaking in a renaming ceremony.

“So [in this picture], [these African-Americans are] regaining their power after all these years,” Awazi said. “[The African-Americans] want to go back. It’s a part of their healing, and they wanna go back and connect with their people over there, and see where their ancestors came from.”

Akubundu Amazu-Lott, SJSU lecturer in African-American studies also organized a section of the exhibit.

“The political theme we’re looking at is from Black Power to Pan-Africanism,” Amazu-Lott said.

Pictures of Malcolm X and Kwame Nkrumah, African drums and the Black Panther Party Ten-Point plan are among the other artifacts displayed.

Further in the back is a glass room where Amazu-Lott hosts documentary events throughout the month.

“[During these events,] we’re taking on themes. Like last week was history, this week will be African youth, and then we’ll use different clips from different eras and different films and just try to engage [people],” Amazu-Lott said. “It’s a film and dialogue series. So we really want to emphasize the exchange of ideas and dialogue.”

The next event for the African Diaspora Exhibition will be on Saturday, February 16.

The African Diaspora exhibition is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Library.