The Black Renaissance Ball, the last installment of the Legion of Black Collegians Black Renaissance Week, took place Thursday evening at the Museao event center.
The Black Renaissance Ball was composed of a three-course meal, a salsa dance put on by the LBC Homecoming royalty court and the crowning ceremony of LBC’s 2013 Homecoming Court.
This year’s court consisted of 26 candidates. After a week of campaigns and voting, eight members were crowned: freshmen Camryn Wheeler and Khalil Simmons were crowned count and countess, sophomores Christopher Trunell and Ariel Gill were crowned duke and duchess, sophomore Steven Jackson and junior Kimaya Davis were crowned prince and princess, and seniors Thomas Stovall and Simone McGautha were crowned king and queen.
The running process for LBC royalty court began with an application and interview process. The individuals who made the top contestants for the court were contacted in advance by the LBC board before it was revealed to the public.
Campaigning was held during Homecoming Renaissance Week. The candidates chose campaigning platforms based on what they thought was essential for a successful college campus.
Newly-crowned Duchess Ariel Gill’s campaign platform was about promoting campuswide leadership.
“It’s (not) just promoting leadership within the black community, but it’s actually promoting leadership in our whole generation as a whole,” Gill said. “We need to learn how to lead through an example.”
Gill’s campaign partner, Duke Christopher Trunell, said his platform was to promote diversity at MU.
“I hope to open people’s minds up to new people, cultures and ideas; to basically make Mizzou a more integrated campus,” Trunell said.
This year’s LBC Homecoming theme, Black Renaissance, is a way of celebrating the success of the black community.
“It’s basically a way of expressing ‘us’ as a culture,” Gill said. “I know there’s a lot of controversy because it’s a different style of Homecoming, but to me, it is freedom of expression. I thank Mizzou for letting us celebrate our diversity.”
Trunell said LBC Homecoming is a time to celebrate accomplishments of the past, the present and the years to come.
Even though the LBC Black Homecoming Week’s festivities are over, the year is still young for the new royalty court. These individuals will be seen as leaders on campus for MU’s black community.
For the duration of the 2013-14 academic year, these individuals will be incorporating their personal court platform goals into direct involvement with the LBC to empower MU’s population, LBC’s activities chairman Curtis Taylor Jr. said.
