Black History Month is being recognized all across the country, but you sure wouldn’t notice it at Missouri Southern.

The month of February is designated to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of African-Americans, but virtually nothing is being done to celebrate diversity at Southern.

Southern Impact and the Campus Activities Board should be applauded as the only groups making an effort. Southern Impact helped with the Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast and is working with CAB to bring Malik Cooper, of “The Real World: Back to New York,” to the College to speak on diversity.

Notice, however, that neither event takes place in February. The breakfast was Jan. 20, and Cooper will not speak until March 5 due to scheduling conflicts. That aside, why isn’t more being done?

Many people say the celebration of black history should not be limited to one month; it should be recognized year round on campus. True, but that obviously does not happen. So during this month, Southern needs to create more awareness.

A famous African-American, Langston Hughes, was born in Joplin. Luckily, through the efforts of the English department, his accomplishments do not go unnoticed. The English department sponsored a beautiful celebration of Hughes Feb. 13 in Matthews Hall Auditorium.

Many other campus organizations should follow the example of the few groups trying to make Black History Month more visible on campus.

Small strides like this have to be made before the giant leap of integrating black history into American culture can happen.