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Xbox recently announced a set of new celebrations in honor of Black History Month.
To pay tribute, the video gaming company has collaborated with artist Clif Wilson to create a new logo for Black History Month. Featuring the iconic Xbox logo, the self-taught designer’s art emulates the sky fading from the sunset into the nighttime. Next to yellow stars, red and green stars light up the sky in front of the Xbox logo, representing the Pan-African flag and incorporating Wilson’s interest in Afrofuturism.
“When approaching the imagery for this campaign, I was inspired by the idea of unity and exploration in the Black community,” said Wilson in the company’s blog post. “The theme of exploration is expressed through the imagery of the starry sky and computer board pattern in the artwork, painting the picture of a world that is full of endless possibilities and spaces to discover.”
“Through gaming, we are able to virtually immerse ourselves into many new spaces where we can engage with different stories and the different individuals that make up the Black gaming community,” he added.
Along with the Xbox logo, the company announced a series of opportunities for up-and-coming BIPOC developers. Working alongside the University of Southern California, Xbox announced the winners of a fund known as the Gerald A. Lawson Fund. Named after Jerry Lawson, a Black engineer who helped create the pause button and the eight-way joystick, the new recipients will be receiving aid in their higher education career; available to Black and Indigenous students, the fund’s main focus is to diversify the video gaming field.
Xbox will also be working alongside the HBCUs Connect program to create a panel for students. They’ll be able to hear about the career paths of HBCU Connect school graduates that are now Xbox employees. The panel will serve as a prelude to their “Game Studios’ Game Camp.” Scheduled to be held in New Orleans from March 9 to April 7, the program will make tools and help from experts available to developers from BIPOC communities while also giving them the chance to network.
Along with their collaborations with schools, Xbox will further help support developers from Black communities by devoting points to STEM-based Black organizations. For U.S. players, Microsoft Rewards points can be donated to organizations such as Cxmmunity, Black Girls Rock! and Gameheads.
Founded by tech entrepreneur Alfonso Hooker, Gameheads teaches the BIPOC youth things like coding, video game design and DevOps to prepare them for a career in the tech field and other STEM-related fields.
