The 43rd Pan-Afrikan week officially begins Saturday with the Pan-Afrikan Kick-Off event. 

The week of events, organized by the Union Activities Board, is an annual celebration commemorating African culture and heritage. 

The idea of hosting Pan-Afrikan pride events was inspired by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, who took initiatives to celebrate the legacy and culture of Africa and its descendants.  

The celebration began at N.C. State as a “black homecoming  for minority students” in 1970 to give “minority students a chance to express themselves through events, showcase their pride and celebrate their identity at a predominately white institution,” according to Lauryn Collier, president of UAB and senior in animal science.

Zuqorah Williamson, senior in psychology and chair of UAB’s Black Student’s Board, described Pan-Afrikan Week as unique, saying, “I’ve been at State for four years and I haven’t seen anything quite like this.” Williamson said it was important for students to celebrate Pan African Week by going to the events because it is a “great way to learn about different cultures that they may not be aware of.”

Collier said students should come out if they want to have a good time and attending the events could give students a “different perspective that they may not have been exposed to before.”

The theme of this year’s festivities is “The Essence of Our Metamorphosis.” Several cultural and historical events will be held which resonate with this theme, like the African Student Union’s Africa Night and the Society of African American Culture Pan-Afrikan Event. In total, this year’s Pan-Afrikan Week includes 15 sponsored events, most of which are free for students. 

On Saturday, the Pan-Afrikan Kick-Off will be held on Harris Field at 4 p.m. Food, such as hot dogs and hamburgers, and t-shirts will be given away to students, according to Williamson. Free soul food will be provided to students for Soul Food Sunday on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Witherspoon Student Center. The African American Textiles Society’s Annual Fashion Expose will be held in the College of Textiles Atrium at 7 p.m. on Monday. 

On Friday, April 12, the Pan-Afrikan Comedy Show will take place at the Dorton Arena at 7:30 p.m. The show will feature Cory Holcomb, Rob Stapleton and Corwin “C Dawg” Oglesby, who will open the show. Another big event is the National Pan-Hellenic Council Step Show, which will also take place in the Dorton Arena on Saturday, April 13, at 7 p.m. The week of events will end on an inspirational note with Gospel Explosion at Oberlin Baptist Church. 

Collier said she was most excited about the Pan-Afrikan Scholarship Pageant because it was an event she brought back last year when she was chair of the Black Students Board. “I’m excited that it’s continuing. I saw a preview of the pageant and it looked great. Everyone is very creative,” Collier said. 

Williamson said planning everything was exciting, but the event planners encountered a few extra roadblocks along the way. “It was a little bit harder to find venues for everything because we normally have most of our events in Stewart Theater,” Williamson said. 

“Zuqorah’s done a great job planning everything. It’s super-stressful, but she’s handled the stress very well. She also has a really great board of students behind her,” Collier said. 

Williamson and Collier both encourage everyone to come to as many events as they can. 

“We know that some of the things can be expensive, especially on a college budget, but it will definitely be worth it,” Collier said.