How looking to our past to progress our future inspired Black History Month at Dropbox
Black History Month at Dropbox was filled with opportunities to celebrate our 2020 theme, sankofa: looking to our past to progress our future. Across several of our offices, Dropboxers gathered together for discussions, lunches, and community events that brought us all closer. Here are just some of the top highlights that we’ll never forget!
Breaking bread together
One of the ways many of our offices celebrated Black History Month was by sitting down together to enjoy food from across the Black diaspora. From a kickoff lunch in San Francisco to a Haitian-themed Lunch and Learn in Austin, there was no shortage of opportunities to chow down with friends and teammates.
The LightBox Display and opening event
For the month of February, we transformed Light Box from a blank canvas to a special Black History Month exhibit, featuring Black spaces in the cities where we live and work. We held an opening night event filled with food, friends, and music to kick off the start of Black History Month.
Promoting Black businesses
On February 12, Dropboxers had the opportunity to meet local Black entrepreneurs/business owners from the Bay Area in an amazing showcase. Merchants sold their wares and offered goods to sample, while visitors enjoyed snacks and hot chocolate!
Learning from panels and speakers
Across our offices, we held a number of events where attendees got to hear from speakers including authors, politicians, professors, activists, screenwriters, and more. These gave us the opportunity to partner with other tech companies, like Amazon, Google, and Pinterest, and rub shoulders with other bright minds in the tech community.
What BlackDropboxers had to say
What is the difference between being Black and being African American? And what exactly is a Black card? Lift every voice and sing, because BlackDropboxers covered all the questions you might have been curious about in a new video. Just don’t touch the hair, please.
Going on field trips
Dropboxers had the opportunity to engage with and support Black-created art in honor of Black History Month. In the Bay Area, Asians@ sponsored a trip to de Young Museum to see Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983, an exhibition filled with art centered around issue of race and identity. In Seattle, Dropboxers had the opportunity to attend the Seattle Repertory Theatre’s preview production of “Jitney” by August Wilson, a Pulitzer winning playwright known for spotlighting the African American experience.
