Author Ernest J. Gaines, painting by artist Robert Peterson, to be featured on new stamp commission for Black History Month 2023. Image courtesy the artist and Claire Oliver Gallery.
This year’s theme for Black History Month is “Black Resistance,” and will explore how African-Americans have fought repression from America’s earliest days, from escaping plantations, to the rise out of poverty and struggle for equal housing and education, and voting rights. Here are a few ways to celebrate the month.
Author Ernest J. Gaines, painting by artist Robert Peterson, to be featured on new stamp commission for Black History Month 2023. Image courtesy of the artist and Claire Oliver Gallery.
The 46th stamp in the Black Heritage series for the USPS honors author Ernest J. Gaines (1933-2019). Best known for such novels as ‘The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman’ and ‘A Lesson Before Dying‘, Gaines drew from his childhood as the son of sharecroppers on a Louisiana plantation to explore the untold stories of rural African Americans.
NYC Parks is proud to present the Poe Park Visitor Center’s virtual exhibition as part of the agency’s Black History Month celebration. The online show is in addition to “The NYC Parks Renaming Project: Celebrating Black Leaders” at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, as well as events and tours taking place this month. Both shows are free and will be on view through February 28, 2022.
Tenekeya Word, Tender a Sisterhood Anthem (Bside) fig. 014, linocut, relief ink, hand quilting on 280 gsm BFK Rives, 22 x 30 in, 2021 ~ In the exhibition ‘A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking’ at Claire Oliver Gallery.
This year, we will celebrate Black History Month 2022 in-person and online with installations, exhibitions, food, music, and a visit to historic sites. With so much to choose from, here are a few suggestions.
Ann Johnson, Octoroon (Constance), intaglio, found objects, 10 x 11 x 10 in, 2021
In perfect timing for Black History Month, Claire Oliver Gallery will open its doors to the New York debut exhibition A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking features 21 works by nine contemporary Black women printmakers. Curated by two artists, founder of Texas-based nonprofit Black Women of Print, Tanekeya Word and member Delita Martin, the exhibition explores the depth and breadth of printmaking through the lens of Black women and their myriad narratives.
In celebration of Black History Month, NYC Parks is pleased to announce the exhibition, “The NYC Parks Renaming Project: Celebrating Black Leaders,” now on view at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. The show highlights some of the parks and park features that the agency has recently renamed to honor the Black experience in New York City. This exhibition is presented by NYC Parks’ Art & Antiquities and Ebony Society and will be on view through February 28, 2022.
David Zwirner is pleased to announce a group exhibition curated by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author, critic, and curator Hilton Als. On view at the gallery’s West 19th Street spaces, the exhibition will focus on the enormous output and cultural significance of Toni Morrison (1931–2019), and, as Als notes, “will add visual components that italicize the beauty and audacity of her work.” Included will be selected archival materials as well as work by artists Garrett Bradley, Beverly Buchanan, Robert Gober, Gwen Knight, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Irving Penn, Walter Price, Martin Puryear, Amy Sillman, Bob Thompson, and James Van Der Zee, among others, some of which have been commissioned for the exhibition and were made in direct response to Morrison’s writings.
In celebration of Black History Month, NYC Parks will host a virtual panel focused on the ongoing effort to name park spaces in honor of the Black experience. NYC Parks Presents Honoring Black History: The Parks Naming Project will take place on Wednesday, February 24th from 6:00-7:00pm.
Today, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) released an interactive story map called Preserving Significant Places of Black History to celebrate New York City’s African American history through designated landmarks and historic districts. For five decades LPC has been recognizing, supporting, and celebrating places of African American cultural and historic significance through designation. This story map highlights landmarks and historic districts that illustrate the experiences and achievements of African Americans through interactive maps, narrative text, images, and multimedia content.
07. Anthony Barboza, Grace Jones, 1970s in the exhibition, 3 Points of View by Kamoinge Photographers, courtesy Keith De Lellis Gallery.
In spite of the Pandemic, this year we celebrate Black History Month with a look-back at tragedies and accomplishments. Hand-in-hand, over 20-million people have taken part in Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in the U.S. alone ~ and millions more worldwide. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation won Sweden’s Olof Palme human rights prize for 2020, with an online prize-giving ceremony that took place in Stockholm on January 30, 2021. In addition, Black Lives Matter has been nominated for a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
Now looking forward, we celebrate Black History Month 2021, with culturally significant artworks along with their creators, past and present, in all five boroughs. Here are a few suggestions.
In recognition of Black History Month 2021, CityParks Foundation SummerStage takes a look back at moments from its first-ever all-virtual season. The excerpts will include highlights from our SummerStage Anywhere 2020 programming, featuring spoken word, music and dance performances. Joining us to introduce the program is Harlem-based journalist and musician, Greg Tate, a SummerStage alumni and co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition, which is celebrating its 35th Anniversary. These are Free online events.
As part of the Today at Apple series, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (NBT)and Apple Williamsburg offer an evening of conversation and exploration with artists including Jillian Walker, Makeba Rainey, Jaimee Todd and Jonathan McCrory discussing the use of the arts, tech and indigenous practices to create visual representations of black womanhood and continue the rich legacy of the Black arts community. A panel discussion with the artists will be followed by an live demonstration with Todd showcasing her creative process in the Procreate painting app and her use of layering, color and other techniques to create abstract portraits. Attendees will then have a chance to gain hands-on experience with Procreate by using iPads and Apple Pencil to interact with Todd’s work and create and share their own art as well on the Apple store’s brilliant 4K video wall.
This February, the world famous Apollo Theater will kick off Black History Month with Apollo Open House: Celebration of Cool on Saturday February 1st from 1 p.m. – 6.p.m., to celebrate and explore the rich history of the Theater as it continues the legacy of Black History.
Marcus Garvey Park, formerly Mt. Morris Park. Image taken April, 2009. Image courtesy NYC Parks
In anticipation and celebration of Black History Month in February, NYC Parks is pleased to announce the exhibition “Namesakes: Honoring African Americans in NYC Parks” at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. The show focuses on a selection of parks throughout the city that are named after notable African Americans.
1919 U.S. Passport photograph of Susan Elizabeth Frazier via commons wikimedia.org
In a highlighted section, on the back of this month’s Friends of Rhinebeck Cemetery newsletter, there is a short article on a remarkable woman, Susan Elizabeth Frazier, who we would like to shine a light on ~ as Women’s History Month comes to a close. Born in 1864 in New York City, she graduated from the Normal School in 1887 and Hunter College in 1888, where she studied to become a schoolteacher. When denied employment because she was African-American, she sued the trustees of the 22nd Ward of the New York School Department because this was a violation of the department’s policy. She went on to successfully become the first black teacher in an integrated public school in New York.
Anthony Barboza, Grace Jones c.1970 courtesy Keith de Lellis Gallery, in the exhibition Light & Dark: Portraits of Distinguished African Americans
February is Black History Month, but The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture got an early start in celebration of what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 90 birthday on January 15th with the new exhibition, CRUSADER ~ and The Brooklyn Academy of Music will hold its annual event on January 21st. So let’s get the celebration started with a few suggestions to add to your list for Black History Month 2019, beginning now!