Christmas 2020: The Black Gift Box

The summer of 2020, the world changed, seemingly entirely and instantly. As provost, I called out three themes that were always relevant but deserved a particularly special attention in the coming academic year--Health, Race, and Politics. The world had been hit with a once in a lifetime viral outbreak; George Floyd's murder brought to the fore our persistent inability to truly engage our difficult relationship with race; and the presidential elections were looming during a first term leader who undeniably exacerbated each of the other issues.

In the fall, we were still in the throws of the racial reckoning, still inching closer to an election day that felt like carried tremendous weight, and still masking and maintaining social distances--in some cases even with family, as was the case when me, Diana and the boys went over to see my parents at Reynolds Cottage. On one occasion, we sat outside in Adirondack chairs set in a large circle with our five on one side and my parents on the other. After taking in the daylight, we transferred our discussion over to the screened patio and Dad pulled out his favorite whiskeys. Among them was Uncle Nearest.

I had not been (and still aren't really) a big whiskey drinker, but Dad shared that he had heard the story of Uncle Nearest from one of my brothers (I can't recall which one) and pointed me to the Jeffrey Wright narrated piece online:

That, and all that was going on, were the spark that ignited the idea to pull together Black Gift Boxes for as many of our family and friends as possible. For a couple of months, I gathered up ideas for gifts from Black-owned businesses. It became a true labor of love, complete with incredibly long runs down and through and around rabbit holes.

Black Gifts webpage (screenshot))

Each of those who got something received a gift that we tried to match to the individual, so not everyone got everything. To compensate for that, we created a website: The 2020 Campbell Family Holiday Gift Baskets so that folks could see some of the other gifts on our list. (The website has since been taken off of its own domain.) It was also the case that almost everyone received two "anchor" gifts: Uncle Nearest, the gift that sparked the idea, and my version of my Aunt Chippy's Pound Cake.

The website became a way to not only say what gifts were given, but share the lists that I explored to get there, knowing that there were so many other possibilities, and where to get more if you liked the gift. It was also a way to tell stories of some of the more personal gifts like that of the pound cake.

The grand vision was to do this every year--to create a different "Black Gift Box" and to build on the website. Alas, as is often the case with me, I let work and other stresses of life get in the way of continuing the trend. Still, this was one of those labors of love that brought me great joy and of which I am proud to have done. I have an idea for another gift that has been running through my head since then that maybe 2023 will be the year to pull off. Stay tuned.