2026 Black History Month Celebration – February 2026
Gospelfest
Saturday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. | Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall
Join gospel choirs and praise dance teams as they engage in spiritual song and dance.
Black History Month Major Speaker: Fred Watkins
Wednesday, Feb. 11 | 7 p.m. | The Underground, Lee Hall
Fred Watkins has been a professional photographer for over four decades, traveling worldwide and photographing celebrities and heads of state from Nelson Mandela to Muhammad Ali. He is the only African American to be in the White House Press Corps covering United States Presidents from George H. W, Bush to Donald Trump. He began his career in the streets of New York as a paparazzi and worked in the Time-Life photo New York City. He worked his way up doing freelance photography for Time, Life, and People magazines.
In 1988, he began working for Ebony and Jet Magazines (Johnson Publishing Company) as a staff photographer. He was the first photographer to capture President George W. Bush in his private quarters on Air Force One. He traveled with Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush to Africa, and with Jesse Jackson all throughout Brazil. His most honored assignment was to document Nelson Mandela’s first tour of the United States after being released from prison in 1990.
From 1984 to 2024, he was Good Morning America’s freelance still photographer. His photographs appear in the Smithsonian’s African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington, DC,, the Gordon Parks Museum, the Muhammad Ali Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Bob Dylan Museum, among others. Last year, he was awarded the “Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award” by the Gordon Parks Museum in Fort Scott, Kansas. Additionally, he was recognized as Guest of Honor by photographers from around the world who came together in Selma, AL for the Photographic Nights of Selma Festival. April 6, 2024 was declared Fred Watkins Day by his home town of Greenwich, CT, and he received The Chairman’s Award from the National Black Farmers Association in October of 2023.
Colors of Africa
Saturday, Feb. 14 | 5 p.m. | Chandler Ballroom, Cedric Rucker University Center
Sponsored by the African Student Union and the James Farmer Multicultural Center
Colors of Africa seeks to celebrate the culture that Black people create. Whether it is Black people of the African continent, African Americans, or the Caribbean, Blackness is a transnational and multicultural experience and it ought to be celebrated as such.
Step Show
Saturday, Feb. 21 | 7 p.m. | Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall
Join area step teams from high schools, regional colleges and universities as they engage in a high-energy, entertaining competition. For cost information, please contact the James Farmer Multicultural Center.
All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. For more information, please contact the James Farmer Multicultural Center at (540) 654-1044 or visit students.umw.edu/multicultural. Please email us at jfmc@umw.edu if you have any questions regarding disability-related accommodations.