 "Photo: Bryan Smith / UCD Advocate")
All too often we feel the need to go to the extremes to genuinely celebrate cultural holidays—like setting off a ton of illegal fireworks, or pinching people who don’t wear green.
Since our campus doesn’t exactly provide a plethora of options to celebrate Black History Month, here are ways to celebrate without having to put on a dashiki-pattern T-shirt, buy an afro wig, or walk around with your fist high in the air.
Jazz at Jack’s
With all the music venues of Denver, it’s easy to forget the noteworthiness of good ol’ foot-tapping, head-shaking jazz music. Yet, Jazz at Jack’s, a 21-and-over jazz club that hosts live music and dance classes—and a slammin’ Friday night happy hour from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m—is there to spark your memory.
On Feb. 4 Ron Ivory & The Members Only Band will play a mix of jazz, rock n roll, and R&B starting at 8:30 p.m. with no cover charge. Or after you clock out from the 9-5 on Monday, attend happy hour 5 p.m. to midnight and catch free live music featuring Heavy Cat and Chad Aman.
Also on Feb. 13, Jack’s will host “Chicago Style Steppen line dance” classes. It’s $5 to take learn, but free to watch. Just be sure to break out the feathered fedoras and pinstriped suits when attending.
www.jazzatjack.com/music/calendar
Black American West Museum
Cowboys aren’t normally the first image to pop up when the words African and American are mentioned, but the Black American West Museum in the heart of Five Points is there to help you cultivate that association.
According to the museum’s website, the collection is an offspring of one of founder Paul W. Stewart’s hobbies as a child—playing cowboys and Indians. As Stewart got older he researched cowboys and found out that when the West was uncharted, one in three cowboys was black.
Deeper research took him on a tour across the West, collecting artifacts and various memorabilia which eventually lead to the museum formally beginning in 1971.
Among other displays, the museum hosts a black military exhibit that tells the story of the Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee airmen alongside photographs, timelines, uniforms, and weapons. Additionally, there is a hall of education that features a 1930’s film starring jazz singer and actor Herbert Jefferies, and a myriad of documentaries about the Black West.
www.blackamericanwestmuseum.com
Denver Soul Food Scene
It warms your soul when you eat it. That’s right, soul food is the cure to anything that ails you. And the only way to get a bite of gluttonous satisfaction is to find some legitimate finger-lickin’ home cookin’.
Although that Popeye’s Tuesday special is hard to say no to, that kind of chicken and biscuits do not count as soul food because it’s not homemade, and it certainly doesn’t taste like it’s made with love and care.
For the good stuff, stop in at Coleman’s Soul Food for their signature pulled pork or rack of ribs. Or, for some country fried steak and gravy, hit Tom’s Home Cookin’ which, according to their banner, has been “serving up gut bustin’ goodness for 10 years.”
No matter what nationality your stomach is, all taste buds yearn for some down home cooking.
Coleman's Soul Food 2622 Welton St, Tom's Home Cookin' 800 E 26th Ave and Check out more local soul food restaurants by searching for soul food at: www.yelp.com
Denver Art Museum
The first Saturday of every month, the Denver Art Museum offers free general admission starting at 10 a.m.
This provides the perfect opportunity to check out the African art collection in the Hamilton building on Feb. 6. The exhibit includes approximately 1,000 paintings, sculptures, and mixed media—poetry and music—compositions from every part of Africa.
The museum’s showcase may not exactly immerse you in an African safari, but it’s a healthy fix of culture at no cost.
Whichever way you decide to celebrate this month, take advantage of the opportunities in Denver while you’re still thinking about Black History month.
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