North Carolina Celebrates Black History All Year

Tours and storytelling in Stagville, NC.

Staff Reports

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources offers outstanding ways to study and celebrate black history. Special programs in February include:

February 12 – The N.C. Museum of History will present “Music From the Carolinas: Boo Hanks.” The program will showcase Hanks’s virtuosity in the delicate finger-style Piedmont blues. The program is free.

February 23 – The Museum of Cape Fear in Fayetteville will
present “Red, White, Blue & Black: The Service of Black Americans
during the Civil War.” The program will focus on the roles and
contributions of black Americans to the U.S. military during the Civil
War. 7 p.m. Free.

Thursday, February 16 – “An Evening of Poetry” with Dr. L. Teresa
Church, archivist/playwright, and Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy, N.C. State
University. Other presenters include district winners of the N.C. Poetry
Out Loud competition. This free program begins at 7 p.m. at the N.C.
Museum of Art in the East Building.

Sunday, February 19 – The N.C. Museum of Art will offer “Looking
at African Art in the 21st Century.” Dr. Rebecca Martin Nagy, director
of the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida and
former curator of African Art at NCMA, will grapple with the challenge
of how to view and discuss the dynamic field of African art. The free
program at 2:30 p.m. in the East Building requires a ticket.

North Carolina Historic Sites

Sunday, February 12 – Historic Stagville in Durham will present
the lecture “To Free a Family: The Journey of Mary Walker,” by Dr. Syd
Nathans. Nathans will speak on the escape of Mary Walker from the
plantation and her 17-year attempt to recover her children. 2 p.m. Free.

Thursday, February 16 – Programs across the state will illuminate the past and present:

Tryon Palace in New Bern will present an original play, Sojourner and
Her Children, that will emphasize the relationship of the abolitionist
Sojourner Truth, who guided slaves to freedom. The free program will be
at 7 p.m. in the N.C. History Center.

Historic Bath will show the movie Ruby Bridges which shares the story of
first grader Ruby Bridges, who entered an all-white school in the 1960s
and helped shape American history. The FREE program will be in the
Visitor Center at 7 p.m.

Bennett Place State Historic Site in Durham will present the lecture
“The First Year of Freedom in North Carolina: Pursuing Freedom with the
Hoe and the Sword, the Book and the Lord” by Dr. Reginald Hildebrand,
UNC-Chapel Hill. The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. $5.

Saturday, February 18 – “Stagville Under the Stars!” in Durham
will feature astronomy and the night sky with storytelling featuring
tales and myths from African cultures. Tours of original slave quarters
will also be available. Visitors can peer through telescopes at Mars and
Jupiter and see constellations meaningful to the ancestors. free family
fun begins at 7:30 p.m.

To learn more about the The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, visit www.ncculture.com