GS celebrated the beginning of Black History Month with the event African American Journey to 2020. The event had an unexpected twist: a gameshow.

Dr. Kendra R. Parker, assistant professor of African American literature, Ph.D, hosted the first event of many at GS during Black History Month. Parker teaches courses both at the Armstrong and Statesboro campuses.

The format of the event, a Kahoot gameshow questionnaire, was innovative and effective at getting the crowd involved.

“I didn’t want to come up here and lecture at you, I want to have a conversation with you,” said Parker.

The game included questions revolving around historical African American figures and historical African American moments from before Reconstruction to 2020. Categories included Freedom Fighters, Movers, Shakers & Innovators, Black Intellectual Traditions, Our Entertainers, Black Love and Black Writers.

“I wanted to start with black people’s pursuit of freedom during enslavement … and I think it’s important to embrace the spirit of looking back to look forward because you can’t really know where you’re going unless you know where you’re coming from,” said Parker.

Jazmine Murphy, a history major, attended the event and found it enlightening.

“Dr. Parker included things that we didn’t already know and included some of the things we did already know,” Murphy said.

Murphy added that the different format, a gameshow style, brought everyone together and made it fun.

Another among those also in attendance was Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs Takeshia Brown. She explains that the event impacted her in several ways.

“I think it’s important to celebrate and learn about cultural groups, and as African American, it was great to kind of hear and re-learn some things that I haven’t heard in a long time and also do it in an atmosphere with students that was relaxing and not intimidating.”

Georgia Southern offers many other events during Black History Month to celebrate and commemorate African American History. To access the available events, click here.

Jessica Paul contributed to this article