This February marks the centennial of Black History Month in the United States, and DU’s Black Student Alliance (BSA) has been busy celebrating the milestone.

“Our mission is to promote awareness of black culture and all of the history that’s behind it,” said BSA President Rory Moore. “We strive to increase solidarity with African-Americans and to create a place where minorities can get together and feel comfortable.”

BSA kicked off February with the second annual We Speak Talent Show in honor of Black History Month.

“The main theme of tonight was celebrating a century of black life, history and culture,” said Moore.

A lot of long hours full of planning went into the event, and attendance greatly increased compared to last year’s, where the audience was not nearly as large or enthusiastic according to the organizing committee.

The talent show consisted of various acts from DU students, including performances, a capella groups, rap battles, Latin dancers and stepping routines. One of the stepping routines was done by Kappa Phi Lambda, the first and only Asian-interest sorority at DU.

“We performed tonight because we want to raise awareness for our group and others like it,” said a member of the group.

According to Moore, BSA works to promote cultural awareness on campus and uniting students from all backgrounds. One of the group’s main focuses is to encourage its members to become active community contributors and spread the BSA mission. This month, BSA is working even harder to do so, with a handful of events taking place at DU and throughout Denver.

“Between rehearsals and preparation, we spent two months organizing for this talent show,” said Moore. “And we’ve got six others coming up.”

Next up in this chain of events is Spokentainment on Feb. 12 at 6:30 at Lindsay Auditorium in Sturm Hall, which will feature DU students rapping and reciting slam poetry.

Then, on Feb. 20, BSA, along with DU Admissions and the Center for Multicultural Excellence, will be hosting ‘A Day at DU.’ In this event, high school juniors and seniors from the surrounding area will get the chance to experience a mock college lecture and see what it is like to be a college student at DU.

Following this event, the film “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” will be screened in the Davis Auditorium on Feb. 26. This film will be shown in honor of the centennial Black History Month theme: A Century of Black Life, Culture, and History.

For more information on BSA, check out www.du.edu/orgs/bsa/about.