Over the course of February, Black History Month, McCaskey freshman Tiyya Geiger researched significant and unsung Black heroes and spotlighted her findings on her Instagram story, attracting attention from peers and community members. Here’s what Tiyya had to say about her work:

“Over the course of the past year, social activism work has received a lot more media attention. This does not mean that this wasn’t happening before the summer of 2020, just that most justice work was done behind the scenes. Real change takes work and effort. It takes dedication and passion. To achieve “justice for all,” we can’t stop after putting BLM in our Instagram bios. We have to actively be educating ourselves, always trying to do better. It is not enough to be not-racist. We must be anti-racist. History is a tool to help us understand what worked and did not work in the past, and from that we should take what we’ve learned and apply it to anti-racist and justice work. Learning about those who came before us, the pioneers in liberation movements, is an important step in the fight for equality, and the fight against oppression.

“For every day during Black History Month, I’ve used my Instagram page to highlight an event or person that has contributed to the Black community, whether it was negative or positive. These stories are a part of our history and no matter how much they get hidden, someone will always remember. Someone will always tell our stories. I have compiled some of my favorite entries I have done from this month, and I have linked the google drive folder to where you can find the rest of these stories.”

Click here to read Tiyya’s piece on Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, founders of the Black Panther Party. 

Click here to read about Tiyya’s piece on Bayard Rustin, who inspired Martin Luther King, Jr., to adopt nonviolent techniques. 

Click here to read Tiyya’s essay and thoughts about Mae Mallory, a Black power intellectual who never gave up her fight for liberation. 

Click here to read Tiyya’s piece on the three women spearheading the Black Lives Matter movement. 

And click this link for all 28 of Tiyya’s short essays and a compilation of other resources on how you can continue to support and uplift Black voices beyond Black History Month.