Baton Rouge, La. – For 26 years Southern University’s Black History Quiz Bowl has been held on the campus as an educational tool used to stimulate the university’s students. The competition covers a variety of topics, including current events, politics, history, sports, and entertainment.
The
quiz bowl’s organizer, Dr. Owusu Bandele begin the event in 1994 after several
faculty and staff decided to have a Black History program within the
University’s College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences
(CAFCS). Dr. Bandele decided to host a discussion on Black
Female/Male Relationships. Following the success of the event, his research
associate at the time, Marion Jarvis, suggested that he host a quiz bowl, and
thus the CAFCS Black History Quiz Bowl was born.
Dr.
Bandele said it became his passion to educate youth about Black history after
graduating from Towson State University in 1963.
“The
history curriculum was taught from a white supremacy perspective, and did not
include the history and contributions of African Americans,” recounted Dr.
Bandele. “When I began teaching middle, and later high school in Baltimore
City, I always incorporated our history in my teaching. Likewise, in
teaching agricultural courses at Southern University I always included the rich
history and contributions that Africans and African Americans have made to the
agricultural sciences,” he said.
In
2016, Bandele, with the help of Erica Williams Mitchell, conducted two
elementary Black History Quiz Bowls at Brownsfield and Audubon Elementary Schools.
Dr. Bandele also hosted a science quiz bowl with special emphasis on the
scientific achievements of African and African Americans at Audubon Elementary
that same year.
“Initially,
the teachers at Audubon were somewhat uneasy because much of the information
that I provided in the study guide was not covered in their curriculum,” added
Dr. Bandele. “However, they were pleasantly surprised at the level of
preparation and outstanding performance of their students,” he added.
The
Southern University Ag Center has continued to conduct Black History Quiz Bowls
at the school each year.
In
2017, Dr. Bandele began conducting quiz bowls at several middle schools in the Baton
Rouge area, and included high schools the following year at individual schools,
culminating in middle and high school championships at the Southern University
Ag Center with the best teams from each school competing.
Plaques
or medallions are given to the top three teams in each division, and all
participants at the championship rounds receive books written by or about
people of African descent.
The
COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Southern University Ag Center to postpone its
2021 Black History Quiz Bowl, but plans are underway to safely host the event.
Bandele
began his tenure at Southern in 1987 as an assistant professor. He went on to
obtain the rank of associate professor, and later, full professor in the
College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Sciences until the establishment
of the Southern University Ag Center in 2001. In 2009, Bandele was awarded the
title of professor emeritus following his retirement.
Erica
Williams Mitchell, a Research Associate at the Southern University Ag Center,
has assisted Dr. Bandele in conducting the Black History Quiz Bowls at all
levels for the past twenty years and was a member of the team that won first
place during the first Collegiate Black History Quiz Bowl in 1994.
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