Black History Month Statement

At the Dean Hope Center our mission is to provide affordable mental health services to members of the community, while providing educational opportunities to Columbia University’s psychology Ph.D. students. Black history month serves as an opportunity to reflect on the contributions of the Black community, specifically the communities contributions to the Harlem community that we serve. Harlem is the product of the Great Migration, millions of African Americans left the southern states for the promise of a better future in the northern states. From 1910-1930s Black leaders such as W.E.B. Dubois, Langston Hughes, Ma Rainey,  and Columbia University alumnae Zora Neale Hurston who was Barnard’s first African American student, settled in Harlem and influenced a revival of African American culture.

“I believe that the [African American’s] advantages and opportunities are greater in Harlem than in any other place in the country, and that Harlem will become the intellectual, the cultural and the financial center for Negroes of the United States and will exert a vital influence upon all Negro peoples.” —James Weldon Johnson, “Harlem: The Culture Capital,” 1925

This month, and every month of the year, we encourage our students, faculty,  staff and community members to visit: The Schomburg Center, The Africa Center, Genesis II Museum of International Black Culture, and The National Jazz Museum in Harlem to learn more about the impact African Americans have had on Harlem and the world.

Lastly, the Dean Hope Center would like to acknowledge the tragic loss of Tyre Nichols. It is the hope of the Dean Hope Center that this senseless violence illuminates the reform that is needed within this country’s policing policies. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As the details of the case unfold we stand in solidarity with the African American community. May Tyre Nichols rest in peace.

Sources:

https://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/zora_hurston.html

https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/uncovering-america/harlem-renaissance.html

https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/harlem-renaissance