Bisa Butler: "Don’t Tread On Me, God Damn, Let’s Go! - The Harlem Hellfighters" (2021)

*There is zero paint on this artwork! It's all cotton, silk, wool and velvet that's been quilted and appliquéd. This piece is Butler's largest to that date, 11ft x 13ft!

The Harlem Hellfighters; the 369th regiment consisted mainly of African Americans and several Puerto Rican Americans during WW1.

The regiment was nicknamed by the Germans who called them Höllenkämpfer (Hell Fighters) because they fought with smiles on their faces and refused to be taken alive. They fought alongside the French because the white American soldiers refused to fight alongside Black men.

During World War I, the 369th spent 191 days in frontline trenches, more than any other American unit. They also suffered the most losses of any American regiment, with 1,500 casualties.

The soldiers were awarded the Croix de Guerre from the French back in 1919 and were just posthumously awarded the Congressional medals of honor by the US last month. Last month after more than 100 years of having their sacrifices unacknowledged.

Gratitude

In times like these, it is with a sense of gratitude that we send out this email with all the events (that we know of today*) @ CWRU for Black History Month 2025. The CWRU community does not just celebrate the rich history of the African diaspora during the shortest month of the year, and there are lots of events with this focus throughout the academic year. But when it comes to February, we do try to make special effort to fill the month with events – as evidenced by these two lists of events that have already happened, and those still to come. A couple quick points to include:

1) Negro History week, originally started by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926, first expanded to a month long celebration back in 1970 at our North East Ohio neighbor, Kent State University and their Black United Students (BUS). It has been celebrated by every President since 1976 – and yes, 2025 too!

2) BHM goes far past the month of February and the borders of the United States. While Canada (1995) & Germany (1990) also celebrate Black History Month in February. Australia (2008) celebrates in July, and Costa Rica (2018) celebrates in August. Ireland (2014), the Netherlands (2015), and the United Kingdom (1987) host their own Black History Month celebrations in October.  Finally, on November 20, Brazil (2023) celebrates what they call Black Consciousness Day.  

* We have scoured CampusGroups, Instagram, and sent an email out to many different offices soliciting BHM events that others might have planned in order to publicize them. But we know there are probably lots more happening, or have happened, that we didn’t know about.

More gratitude for a campus that values the people behind the celebration.

Bisa Butler "I Go To Prepare A Place For You" (2021)

The artist, Bisa Butler, expands on her use of symbolism in the portrait:

“I used cool blues to communicate that Harriet Tubman was a person who had to hide, blend in, and escape detection in order to emancipate herself. The red fabric suggests her forceful personality, determination and will to be free. She was quoted as saying 'There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are Death, or Liberty- one or the other I mean to have. No one will take me alive; I shall fight for my liberty, and when the time has come for me to go, the Lord will let them kill me.'
The sunflowers in the background have multiple meanings; one is to acknowledge Harriet Tubman’s reliance (and that of many people escaping slavery) on the North Star to help point the way towards freedom. The sun is also a star, and the sunflower symbolizes that guiding light. The sunflower is known as a spiritual and devotional flower because they follow the sun as it moves from East to West in the sky. The sunflowers appear to worship the sun and I use that to indicate Tubman’s devout faith.”
Smithsonian - National Museum of African American History & Culture

PAST Events

Bisa Butler "The Storm, The Whirlwind, and the Earthquake" (2020)

This quilt (zero paint) portrays the American social reformer Frederick Douglass, who, after escaping slavery, became an influential orator, writer, and leader of the abolitionist movement. Here is a somewhat longer version on that Frederick Douglass quote but not the entire speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”, - originally given July 5,1852.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced...”

FUTURE Events