Celebrate the Power of Diversity

At Peirce College, Diversity & Inclusion is about living a culture that embraces and respects different qualities and abilities, and recognizes the unique contributions that individuals with varying perspectives provide. By valuing and promoting Diversity & Inclusion, we create an environment that enriches everyone in our community and gives opportunities for all to achieve their full potential.

 

Celebrate Black History Month

It’s no secret that February is full of famous birthdays and history theme months. However it also hosts a variety of wellness events and days that commemorate the persecution of the LGBT community in history too.

Here are some of the important days on our diversity calendar. You can also explore our Diversity Calendar 2024 as well as Interfaith Calendar 2024  to get a head start on all of the February religious holidays, heritage months, wellness days and beyond.

In these monthly highlights blogs, we aim to share different awareness days and diversity days as well as February heritage months, February religious holidays, February high holy days, and important religious festivals too.

 

February Diversity Calendar 2024 Highlights

Black History Month – February
February is recognized as Black History Month, a time to celebrate and acknowledge the significant contributions and history of Black individuals and communities. This month-long observance is dedicated to remembering important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It’s a period for reflection, education, and celebration, highlighting the achievements and struggles of Black people throughout history and in contemporary society.

Black History Month Activities 

World Hijab Day – February 1

This annual event encourages the world to experience wearing a hijab, a headscarf worn typically by Muslim women. This event hopes to create a culture of understanding that promotes religious tolerance and eradicates stereotypes associated with wearing one. Those who participate are encouraged to wear one for a day and share their experience to help raise awareness about the challenges these women may face on a daily basis.

National Wear Red Day – February 2

Occurring on the first Friday in February every year, the red dress is a national symbol to raise awareness about heart disease in women. The American Heart Association’s National Wear Red Day movement hopes to save lives while helping women to beat heart disease, which is their number one killer. Show support by wearing red on this day.

World Cancer Day – February 4

On this international day, we raise awareness of cancer in order to spread the word about how to detect it, prevent it, and most importantly, treat it. This United Nations observed day focuses on how to reduce illness and deaths caused by cancer.

Lunar New Year – February 10

This is a significant traditional festival celebrated by many Asian cultures. It marks the beginning of the lunar new year, falling on different dates each year based on the lunar calendar. The festival is a time of family reunions, special meals, and cultural activities. Each year is represented by a zodiac animal, with 2024 being the Year of the Dragon, symbolizing luck, power and strength.

Pink Triangle Day – February 14

This day is dedicated to remembering the history of the LGBTQ+ community, especially those that were persecuted during the Nazi regime during World War II. The pink triangle was frequently used to identify and discriminate against the community.

Paranirvana – February 15

This day, also known as Nirvana Day, is a Mahayana Buddhist holiday celebrated in various countries in East Asia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. While some observe it on February 8, most celebrate it on February 15. The day commemorates the death of the Buddha, when he attained complete nirvana or Parinirvana. It’s a time for reflection on the teachings of the Buddha, focusing on the achievement of enlightenment and the realization of the Four Noble Truths​​​​​​.

 

Copied from https://www.diversityresources.com/february-diversity-calendar-2024/

"I AM PEIRCE" Video

View the video "I AM PEIRCE" to learn more about the rich diversity of experience that constitutes the Peirce community.

"A Conversation with Black Women on Race"

 

 This video highlights the negative emotional impact of racist attitudes on black women’s lives. "From Harriet Tubman to Ida B. Wells to Dorothy Height, black women have been heavy presences in social justice movements throughout history. However, issues particular to these women are often relegated to secondary status in our collective consciousness."   

Philly Diversity: Hispanic + Latino

Philly & the African American Experience

The Boomer List

From the time of its birth, the baby boomer generation (1946-1964) has significantly and uniquely changed our world. 2014 marks an important shift in American culture, as the last boomers turn 50. Watch brief interview with John Leguizamo, Erin Brockovich, Julieanna Richardson and Tim O’Brien.

View the video Boomer List.

Former U.S. Navy SEAL Kristen Beck's personal journey

Former U.S. Navy SEAL Christopher Beck's personal journey to become Kristin Beck is detailed in the CNN Film "Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story. Watch the interview and view short clips (on the left of the screen after you click the link).

View the video Kristin Beck, Navy Seal.

Three ways to speak English

Jamila Lyiscott is a “tri-tongued orator;” in her powerful spoken-word essay “Broken English,” she celebrates — and challenges — the three distinct flavors of English she speaks with her friends, in the classroom and with her parents. As she explores the complicated history and present-day identity that each language represents, she unpacks what it means to be “articulate.”

View the video 3 ways to speak English.

Our genetic ancestry

How did the human race populate the world? A group of geneticists have worked on the question for a decade, arriving at a startling conclusion: the "global family tree" can be traced to one African man who lived 60,000 years ago. Dr. Spencer Wells hosts this innovative series, featuring commentary by expert scientists, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists.

View the video Journey of our Genetic Ancestry.

"For the Bible Tells Me So"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2V8Jz93Yu4

An exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community.

Katherine G. Johnson, Physicist, Space Scientist, and Mathematician

 In this MAKERS interview, Katherine G. Johnson talks about her early affinity for mathematics, a college professor who noticed her gift and pushed her to pursue advanced math courses and how she eventually became a NASA mathematician who calculated, among many other computations, the trajectory for the space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space; John Glenn, the first American to orbit earth; and Apollo 11, the first human mission to the moon.

Charlotte Ray, First African-American Attorney

 

Charlotte E. Ray, the first African American woman to practice law in the United States, was born on January 13, 1850 in New York City, New York. Ray spent her first years in New York City but by 1850 her parents had moved to Washington, D.C. where she entered the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth, the only school in the Washington, D.C. area that allowed African American girls to become pupils. Her ambition instead was to attend the Howard University's law school. Howard University's Law School, however, discouraged women from enrolling and Ray was forced to apply under the name “C.E. Ray” to disguise her gender. University officials reluctantly accepted her application. Ray matriculated at the law school for three years, from 1869 to 1872 where she concentrated on commercial law. Upon completion of the program in 1872 Ray became the first black woman to graduate from an American law school and receive a law degree. In fact she was only the third American woman of any race to complete law school. 

Bayard Rustin, Civil Rights Activist

Bayard Rustin was a civil rights organizer and activist, best known for his work as adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s and '60s. Bayard Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1912. A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. Combining non-violent resistance with organizational skills, he was a key adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s. Though he was arrested several times for his own civil disobedience and open homosexuality, he continued to fight for equality.

Vilma Socorro Martinez, Attorney

Vilma S. Martínez was the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to Argentina. She has a long history of straddling the worlds of corporate boardrooms and legal defense of minorities.  One of the leading voices in Hispanic civil rights since the 1970s, Martínez has run the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and been a part of legal fights on behalf of both documented and undocumented immigrants from Latin America.

Dalip Singh Saund: Civil Rights Leader

Dalip Singh Saund made history in 1956 when he became the first Asian elected to Congress. Born in India in 1899, Saund came to the United States in 1920 to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a doctorate degree in mathematics. Despite being highly educated, Saund discovered that his career options were limited due to anti-immigrant feelings in the U.S. As a result, he worked in farming for the next 20 years. At the same time, Saund began fighting discriminatory laws against Indians. In 1949, he and other Indians finally earned the right to become U.S. citizens. In 1956, Saund left the fields of California for the halls of Congress. He served three terms in the House of Representatives, working to improve U.S.-Asian relations.

Harvey Gantt, Architect & South Carolina Mayor

Harvey B. Gantt, architect and politician, was born January 14, 1943 in Charleston, South Carolina to Christopher and Wilhelmenia Gantt. In 1961, Gantt attended Iowa State University. After one year of study, he returned to South Carolina and soon afterwards sued to enter racially segregated Clemson University. On January 16, 1963, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Clemson to admit Gantt who became its first African American student. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson with honors in 1965. In 1970, Gantt earned a M.A. in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Jennifer Finney Boylan, Writer & Activist

Jennifer Finney Boylan is an American author and political activist. Her 2003 memoir, She’s Not There: a Life in Two Genders (Broadway/Doubleday/Random House) was the first bestselling work by a transgender American. A novelist, memoirist, and short story writer, she is also a nationally known advocate for civil rights. Jenny has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show on four occasions; Live with Larry King twice; the Today Show,the Barbara Walters Special, NPR’s Marketplace and Talk of the Nation; she has also been the subject of documentaries on CBS News’ 48 Hours and The History Channel.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Writer, Journalist, Educator

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an American writer, journalist, and educator. Coates is a National Correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about cultural, social and political issues, particularly as regards African-Americans. “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.”

Cesar Chavez, Human Rights Leader

Cesar Chavez was one of the founders of United Farm Workers. Born in 1927, he spent most of his life struggling to organize farmers and work to bring respect, dignity, justice, and fair treatment to the poor. In the early 1990s Chavez continued to fight human rights and safety. He spoke at many rallies and colleges throughout the United States to spread a message for pesticide-free produce. In 1994, Chavez was given the presidential medal of freedom by President Clinton.

Cruz Reynoso, Judge & Civil Rights Leader

Cruz Reynoso was the first Hispanic person to sit on the California Supreme Court. Appointed in 1982, his service marked reforms including extended environmental protections, civil liberties, and the rights of criminal defendants. Reynoso has served as the director of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, the associate general counsel to the US Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, as vice chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights, as a member of the Select Commission on Immigration and Human Rights, and on numerous other panels and boards. For his efforts in extending legal equality, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian honor.

Books at Peirce

Between The World And Me by 

Ta-Nehisi Coates 

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER 

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/21/456879598/ta-nehisi-coates-on-his-work-and-the-painful-process-of-getting-conscious

Books at Peirce

My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

"My Life on the Road examines this nomadic existence, from her wanderings with her father to her countless sojourns around the US on political campaign trails, college campus tours, or generally organising, writing, listening and inspiring." http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/my-life-on-the-road-gloria-steinem-a-nomad-shows-the-way-ahead-book-review-a6742151.html

 

Books at Peirce

Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary by Shirley Chisholm

Books at Peirce

Daisy Bates: Civil Rights Crusader from Arkansas (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies... by Grif Stockley (at Peirce via eBook)

Learn about people:Books at Peirce

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou

Books at Peirce

Night (The Night Trilogy, #1) by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel

Books at Peirce

The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson Overshadowed by the news of World War One, what would come to be known as “The Great Migration” began in the nineteen-teens. Between 1915 and 1970, over six million African Americans would leave the states of the old Confederacy for Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and other northern cities. Using the most up to date research and a close reading of census data, New York Times journalist and Boston University professor Isabel Wilkerson recounts the journey of three African Americans who made the trek North, providing insight into one of the largest migrations in modern history.

Books at Peirce

The Prince Of Cacuyos, Richard Blanco When he was asked to read one of his poems at President Obama’s second inauguration, Richard Blanco achieved several “firsts.” He was the first openly gay man, the first Latino, and the first immigrant to serve as an inaugural poet; and at age 44, he was also the youngest. The Prince of Cacuyos describes part of Blanco’s journey to the national stage, focusing on his childhood as a Cuban immigrant in Miami. He chronicles his struggles navigating the world of his Cuban-American community and his desire to see a world beyond it. Though often humorous, The Prince of Cacuyos also describes the darker side of Blanco’s childhood as he came to understand his sexuality, struggling with a family that did not welcome it.