**Please note that the living wax museum on February 26 has been canceled.**
Black history will come alive on Wednesday, February 26, when the University of Lynchburg’s Black Student Association presents a living wax museum featuring well-known people from African American history. The public event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Hall Campus Center’s Memorial Ballroom. Admission is free.
“[It’s] an opportunity … to learn about black historical figures through a live, mini performance,” BSA President Darian Geddis ’20 said, adding that members of the campus community will “dress as their chosen historical figure and then come to life with a two-to-three-minute monologue. There will be tour guides and more, to make the event as museum-like as possible.”
“Exhibits” in the museum will feature, among others, civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.; President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama; author Toni Morrison; singer Diana Ross; and Olympian Alice Coachman. Coachman, a high jumper, was the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Kobe Anderson ’21, one of the event organizers, will portray Barack Obama. He said that for him “the biggest thing is capturing his essence. When Barack Obama walks into a room, you know he’s there. He makes his appearance felt.”
Desmond Mosby, student employment coordinator at Lynchburg, will reprise a role he’s played numerous times: Malcolm X. Mosby has portrayed the Civil Rights Movement leader many times, most recently in January at a performance that imagined a “meeting of the minds” between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Mosby, who also portrays the late musical artist Prince on occasion, said Malcolm X is one of his favorite historic people to inhabit. “I generally go all out for this character,” he said. “It took some watching YouTube videos to study mannerisms, pictures to get the look, etc. Everything I do in regard to this character is calculated and done in a way that I hope does him justice.
“I always say that my take on it is looking at Malcolm as a human being. Not vilified as he most often is, but as someone who loved his people enough that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to show them who they could be.”
On Tuesday, March 3, psychologist, performer, and poet Dr. Mykee Fowlin will present “You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me.” The free, public event will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Ballroom. The performance is sponsored by the Office of Equity and Inclusion, the Black Student Association, and the Student Diversity Council.
According to Fowlin’s website, his programs “combine both his professional acting talents and his psychological training. His mission is to create an atmosphere of worldwide inclusion, not just tolerance, towards all people.
“He has worked extensively with all age groups in the United States and in other countries. His work has included peer mediation, diversity trainings, gender equity workshops, and violence prevention seminars.”
The BSA and Residence Life also are having a door decorating contest in which students are invited to decorate the doors of their residence halls, townhouses, etc., in celebration of Black History Month.
