Makuu: The Black Cultural Center

The Makuu award winners 2023! These students have left a lasting impact on the Penn community in scholarship, the arts, athleticism, community impact, leadership and the ability to keep thriving in the face of barriers. We are so proud to announce~

And the winners are!

Makuu's 3rd Year Brunch on deck for tomorrow, Friday, April 14.

This is for our 3rd years to connect over soul food brunch
Where: ARCH 108
When: Friday 4/14/23
Time: 1-2:30PM

Black Penn Class of 2024- Join us as we bring you together to connect with each other, hear your thoughts on your Penn experiences thus far, and discuss ways to make the most of this spring semester. Please-3rd year/juniors only.

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 4/17!🖤❤️💛💙❤️💛💙🖤
Nominate Seniors for Makuu Awards! We select seniors for our annual senior celebration award ceremony. Nomination deadline has been extended to Monday April 17. Penn students, faculty and staff are eligible to nominate a senior. Seniors are selected to win only one award. Check out our nomination form here: https://bit.ly/MakuuAwards2023
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Monolith's Second Annual Art Exhibition is coming!

What is Black Joy Uninterrupted ? How does our community exhibit their joy visually ? How does your joy differ from mine? If any of these questions intrigue you, please come to the exhibit at Hall of Flags ~ April 23rd at 5pm! We will have a diverse display of what Black Joy looks like to our Penn and Philadelphia Artists community.

The night will include 3 special guest performances during the exhibition + a chance to win an art supply bundle in our raffle—which you can enter at the event! Immerse yourself in the exhibit with food, fun, and community. 🖤 ✊🏿

See link in Makuu bio for Eventbrite tickets & IG!

Check out the UPenn’s University Life student spotlight on Makuu’s own student intern Tarah Paul, a junior graphic design major at Penn from Philadelphia. Thanks to for this feature on a dynamic member of the Makuu family!

Highlight quote:
“As a community, we must recognize, celebrate, cultivate, appreciate and show gratitude towards Black culture and the people putting in the work for equality and inclusion…this should happen not just during Black History Month, but always.” Tarah Paul

*Click the link in our bio for the full feature article*

🎓🎓🎓🎓🎓SAVE THE DATE🎓🎓🎓🎓🎓
Makuu proudly honors the accomplishments of our students in an annual ceremony that takes place on the Saturday preceding Commencement, The Makuu Senior Celebration! We welcome all Black graduates and their families to attend the ceremony in Irvine Auditorium, followed by our reception at the ARCH Building, 3601 Locust Walk. Asé!
Seniors: Please register at bit.ly/MakuuSeniorCelebration or check out our Linktree!

Makuu Black Cultural Center x Robeson Coper Scholars welcome Dr. Camille Charles for a fireside chat about her new book Young GIfted and Diverse!
Thursday March 16 2023 6:30PM ARCH 108
Pita Chip will be available
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Tomorrow!

Black History Month Celebration Closing dinner
ARCH 108 and Lobby
5-6:30

Let's close out Black History Month with a celebration filled with food of the Black Diaspora - Soul food, Caribbean, and Pan-African food! Come admire our BHM mural, and close out a great month. We look forward to fellowshipping with you!
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Who Hears Here? With
ARCH 108
6:30-8PM

Who Hears Here? Black Music Conversation with Dr. Guy Ramsey!
Join Makuu in a great conversation on Dr. Ramsey's new book Who Hears Here. Celebrate Black Music, Black joy and Black Penn this Monday evening! Refreshments will be served and signed book copies will be available.
Who is Dr Ramsey?
A Guggenheim Fellow and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. is a music historian, pianist, composer, and Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.
A widely-published writer, he’s the author of Who Hears Here: On Black Music Pasts and Present (2022), The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History and the Challenge of Bebop (2013), and Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop (2003). He edited and wrote a foreword for Rae Linda Brown’s The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price (2020) and co-authored with Melanie Zeck, Samuel A. Floyd, Jr.’s The Transformation of Black Music (2017).

Join Makuu Fam continues our Class Brunch/Lunch series this Friday! February Black Penn Senior Brunch - Class of 2023 students of the diaspora join us for food & fruitful conversation around plans and resources availble after your time at Penn! 12:30-2PM ARCH 108 Food from 🇯🇲 Jamaica D's will be served!
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Tomorrow at 1PM 💛⭐️🌻🌼🐝🌙🍋🌕
Take a in ARCH 108/ARCH Lobby! Enjoy soundbowls, meditation, light stretching & refreshments! meals will be available
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Thank you for sharing the celebrations of Black History Month this year! Check out the QR code to read the full article and Makuu’s feature.

On Thursday, February 16, The Penn Fund and Makuu: The Black Cultural Center will host a panel discussion and networking event to spotlight all of these things! During the conversation, a group of insightful undergraduate alumni donors will share their personal experiences of giving back and building community at the University—and beyond. This event is free and open to all undergraduate students, and we are proud to stay connected with our campus partners in this way. If you are a current undergraduate student, click the link to register!
Tinyurl.com/PennItForward
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Join in celebrating all the lovely dishes from the diasporic ingredient - PL A N T A I N !
Wednesday February 15 at 12:30-2:30PM Fireside lounge!

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So proud to share!
Dinner & Career Talk with TV and Stage Actor , C'14
Thursday, February 9th @ 6pm
ARCH Room 108

Join us for dinner, creative advice, and laughs with a Penn performing arts alumn whose career on stage and screen centers Black storytelling joy, and healing.

RSVP link in bio
Co-hosted by:
Platt Student Performing Arts House

JESSIE REDMON FAUSET

Known as “the midwife” of the Harlem Renaissance, Fauset was an acclaimed author/editor. She was the only African American in her graduating class at Philadelphia High School for Girls. Fauset received an M.A. from the University of Penn in 1929.

She was an editor for The Crisis, the NAACP magazine started by W.E.B. Dubois. Faucet was the most published novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, she wrote four novels, each with a focus on black culture and the challenges that confronted it.

“To be a colored man in America…and enjoy it, you must be greatly daring, greatly stolid, greatly humorous and greatly sensitive. And at all times a philosopher…” Jessie Faucet

Join the Makuu fam in the to kickoff our favorite month of the year! BLACK HISTORY MONTH ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽 The diaspora is vast and mighty!
Join in on quality soul food & good vibes and check out the new mural at the ARCH celebrating at Penn!

How are we?

In the spirit of our Black Penn community—we want to see about you and hear from you.

Thank you to for giving us the space and place to give voice to our collective community.

Tomorrow-Tues Jan. 31, 2023.
DuBois MPR, 7:30pm

Join us at the ARCH for a Mindful Pause study break!
Featuring a sound bowl bath, gentle moving and sitting meditation to ground you during finals
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Undergraduate and Graduate students welcome – DIG will be served
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Then join the CRCs Hot Cocoa break in the ARCH Lobby (12-3PM) to get a sweet treat at the end of meditation!

About Saturday & A Toast to Dear Old Penn performances including ~ We see y’all! 🫶🏿

Save The Date! Kwanzaa 2022 is set to be a beautiful thing as per usual but with a new twist this year…the + Makuu Marketplace on 12/8/22 with vendors starting at 4PM.

Check out for a view of the vendors at our inaugural holiday happening!

Join us for a Thanksgiving Dinner Party! Do friendsgiving here with Makuu + Dubois College House this Sunday, November 20th - 4PM at the Dubois MPR :)
Register by scanning the QR code or go to bit.ly/dmthanks22 to sign up!
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It’s Entrepreneurship Month! Join us this Thursday, November 17th for a conversation with Wharton ‘26 Undergraduate, Alana Andrews - CEO & Founder of the natural Gen Z sports drink . Hosted at ARCH200 Fireside and in collaboration with Roberson Cooper Scholars, all are welcome!

Sister Sister Community & Conversation. Making time for our space & place. ❤️

We ready! Conversation on sisterhood, new Sister Sister leadership team + soul food Sunday! TODAY 5PM 🙅🏿‍♀️