If achievement is the buzzword of American history, then the 2015 Tribute to Black Cultural Icons event held last Friday celebrated the part of that achievement that goes above and beyond by breaking through the barriers of racial and social injustice. Hosted by PRIDE Black Student Alliance, the event presented student and guest performances of spoken word poetry, readings, videos, musical performances and dance.

According to junior Ikram Carfon-Osman, who helped plan the event, the PRIDE executive board consults with their adviser, Assistant Dean of Diversity and Community Carlos Sneed,  to determine the honorees each year.

“Sometimes it’s someone who maybe died that year, like Maya Angelou,” Osman said. “And other times it’s just someone who hasn’t been honored in a while and we want to remember.”

Angelou, a writer and poet known for her lifelong advocacy for black people and women, died in May 2014. The show opened with four students reading several of her poems, including her most famous work, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

Senior Marco Ocampo, who attended the event, said that hearing her poetry performed was the most inspiring moment of the night. “I’d say hearing that first piece by Maya Angelou has an impact on the community, because it keeps the hope alive,” he said.

Besides Angelou, this year’s event featured tributes to individuals who shone their brightest in a varied range of decades and disciplines, including abolitionist Frederick Douglass, actress and transgender advocate Laverne Cox, Congressman John Lewis, jazz pianist Duke Ellington, baseball legend Jackie Robinson and women’s basketball champion Lisa Leslie.

Reading aloud, students paid homage through poems, letters and addresses written by the honorees. The guest performers included renowned musician Sanford Moore, who accompanied the other musicians and played a fast-paced and intricate rendition of the Duke Ellington song “Take the ‘A’ Train.” Vocalist and Hamline alumna Yolanda Y. Williams (‘79) sang a beloved standard from honoree Sarah Vaughan, and the multitalented G. Phillip Shoultz III performed a somber tribute to singer and Civil Rights activist Paul Robeson.

The final performance featured Marciano Silva dos Santos, a dancer originally from Brazil, who paid tribute to Bill T. Jones with an intense interpretive dance performance.

Members of PRIDE and those involved in producing the event were hoping for higher attendance, but they expressed the importance of having such a tribute on campus each year.

“It’s very respective of my culture,” said senior Taylor Seaberg, who read one of Maya Angelou’s poems. “I think being part of it really helps establish roots in the community.”