Bozeman Magazine

Montana State University will host a Black History Month event highlighting Black military service. The event, “Celebrating Black Military Service: Exploring Our Past, Present and Future,” will take place virtually 1 to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24. It is free and open to the public.

The event will have two sessions. In the first, Nic Rae, professor in the Department of Political Science in the College of Letters and Science, will discuss the historic appointment of Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the first African American to serve as U.S. Defense Secretary. Rae will provide context to the significance of his appointment. Austin, a retired four-star Army general who was a commander of the effort in Iraq, is the only African American to have headed U.S. Central Command, the military’s marquee combat command, with responsibility for Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria.

For the second session, Student Coordinator for MSU’s Diversity and Inclusion Student Commons Lyla Brown will hold a conversation with Joseph Wanjohi. Wanjohi is a Black student veteran at MSU and will talk about his experiences in the military and serving his country. Wanjohi is a first-year student at MSU studying industrial engineering. He served in the Army for almost seven years as a medic and was stationed in Texas and Germany. He is a dual citizen of Kenya and the U.S. and earned his U.S. citizenship through his military service.

To view the event visit montana.edu/calendar/events/37380 and use the provided Webex link.

The event is hosted by the Department of Political Science, Veteran Services and DISC. For more information contact PJ Diamond at precious.diamond@montana.edu.