E&H Honors Diversity Awareness

The series of events entitled “Good Trouble Comes in All Colors: Allyship Matters” was presented by the College’s DEI team to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January.

The keynote was given by Dr. Danielle McGuire an award-winning historian, public speaker and author. Ruby Sales, a nationally-recognized human-rights activist, public theologian, and social critic, also spoke.

Emory & Henry partnered with Southwest Virginia Community College as part of the Bridge to Change in Southwest Virginia initiative for two keynote addresses.

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson delivered the February keynote, A Bridge to Change: Celebrating Black History Month and The Freedom Movement. Dyson, an academic, author, ordained minister and radio host, is a professor in the College of Arts and Science and in the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University.

“Black History Month is an annual celebration of cultural heritage where we honor the many contributions that African Americans have made to our country,” said John Holloway, vice president for DEI at Emory & Henry. “We are also reminded of the sacrifices and the on-going struggles for social and racial justice that African Americans continue to overcome daily.”

The keynote address for Women’s History Month, I AM She: Sheros, Poetry and Feminine Power, was presented by poet Nikki Giovanni, a university distinguished professor at Virginia Tech.

“We celebrate the women on the campus of Emory & Henry, in our local community, and both nationally and internationally who continue to invite us into meaningful cultural exchanges that help us navigate and reach our destiny with power and might,” said Rev. Dr. Sharon Bowers, director of the Inclusion and Dialogue Center at the College.

The partnership, Bridge to Change: The New Freedom Movement in Southwest Virginia, was established for the purpose of platforming, promoting and championing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Southwest Virginia.