Honoring Black Women in Leadership was the theme for this year's Black History Month Assembly on Friday, February 15. The annual program is organized by members of the Holy Cross Onyx Club. This year, the members created a special video for the assembly in which Onyx Club members portrayed prominent Black women leaders.
Following the video, alumna Kimberly Peeler-Allen '94 shared her story. She spoke about how her experiences as a student at Holy Cross shaped the adult she became, including choosing to take a challenging AP US History class, but not take the exam, and choosing not to apply to Princeton. These choices she now references when encouraging other women of color to take risks. She also shared about her experience serving for a summer as a Congressional intern for Rep. Pat Schroeder. Kimberly is the co-founder of Higher Heights, a national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office. In 2018, Kimberly was selected as one of the Roddenberry Fellowship's 20 incredible established and emerging activists to devote an entire year to projects that will make the U.S. more inclusive and equitable through their inaugural cohort.
Following the keynote, Katiushka Howell '22 performed "Lift Every Voice and Sing" also known as the Black National Anthem. To conclude the assembly, President Katy Prebble thanked the Onyx Club and Kimberly. She then remarked how Holy Cross aims to have all students empowered to achieve their highest goals.