Last Thursday the Center for Multicultural Initiatives (CMI) hosted “Walk Through History,” the third installment at Oakland University of this year’s African American celebration month.

The event took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and was held in the Gold rooms of the Oakland Center (OC).

Participants were educated on information about important people and events in history.

“It can be very beneficial for students to attend because this is an event filled with educational interaction to broaden perspectives,” said Multicultural Affairs director, Erin Ward.

Some of the things students learned about were the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American President Barack Obama, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington and more.

“We’re revitalizing the African American celebration month to highlight students’ talents and give them an opportunity to display their work,” said Retention Coordinator of CMI, Denise Jones.

The event had craft activities like coloring pictures of influential icons, making Valentine’s Day cards for the Detroit Children’s Hospital.

Participants created a paper chain of personal phrases that represented what “freedom” or “friendship” meant to the contributor.

“I enjoyed the chain-linking activity the most because I wonder every day what freedom means to me and so it means a lot that this question came up,” said second-year Journalism student Imani Smith.

When a participant visited four out of the seven tables, he or she was put into a raffle for Grizzly gear – a sweatshirt, Camelback water bottle, a tote bag and a few other goodies.

African American celebration month at OU takes place January 19 through February 19. All events are free and open to the public.

To view other events by CMI, visit their calendar of events.

Contact reporter Erica Marracco via email at [email protected].