Taking the Kids: Black History Month
IN NEW YORK CITY, the world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem will host a free open house on Feb. 4, including an intergenerational dance workshop on the history of classical social dances associated with Harlem. Come Feb. 22 for opening night of Amateur Night at the Apollo, now in its 83rd year, as aspiring musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, rappers and spoken-word artists compete. The audience decides by cheers or boos who stays and who goes. This is America's longest-running talent competition and has launched several prominent careers, including those of Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, and Michael Jackson. There are many tours of Harlem available, including Free Tours by Foot Harlem Gospel Tour and Soul Food Experience.
IN DENVER, celebrate the contributions of African-American cowboys and other African-American men and women who helped settle the American West at the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center. It is housed in the former home of Dr. Justina Ford, the first licensed African-American female doctor in Denver. Check here for more on Denver's Black heritage, including Five Points, an official Historic District with deep African-American roots.
IN OAKLAND, CALIF, get a 21st-century view of the Black Panther Party at the Oakland Museum of California. The Black Panther party, founded in Oakland 50 years ago, created programs to benefit people in struggling communities and stood up against power, their actions still inspiring grassroots social justice and community empowerment today.
IN VIRGINIA, talk to both enslaved and free people in 18th-century Colonial Willliamsburg in the restored Revolutionary City where everyone is in character -- except the visitors. Visit Great Hopes Plantation and see enslaved life in an interactive setting. At Mount Vernon, George Washington's home just outside of Washington, D.C., see “Lives Bound Together,” the exhibit that explores the stories of the enslaved workers at Mount Vernon and George Washington's ultimate opposition to slavery, freeing his slaves in his will. A new free app enables visitors to Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, to learn about the slaves who lived and worked on "Mulberry Row," the "Main Street" of his 5,000-acre plantation.
As we head into February and Black History Month, we would all be wise to remember Dr. Martin Luther King's words:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said in 1963. "Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
That message is among Dr. King's many quotes engraved on his memorial -- and one we would all do well to remember.
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