Initiated in February 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month highlights the achievements of the descendants of the African diaspora. From a research center in Harlem to the historic black community of Weeksville, Brooklyn, there are scores of New York City cultural organizations that focus year-round on African-American art, films, research, history and culture.
During the month of February, provocative talks, exhibits and exciting performances going on throughout the city take a look at black leaders, activists, artists and authors who have made their mark in American history.
About Face: Photographic Collages Celebrating the Art of African-American Face Painting
Hamilton Grange Branch-New York Public Library
Manhattan
Mon, Dec 10, 2012 - Sat, Apr 27, 2013
Artist Nikki Williams presents "About Face: A Photographic Collage Celebrating the art of African American Face Painting."
African-American and Jewish Poetry: From Images of Despair to Images of Hope
Langston Hughes-Queens Library
Queens
Tue, Feb 26, 2013, 5:30 pm
An evening of poetry with actress and author Sherry Reiter and spoken-word artist and performer Barbara Bethea. The strong parallels in the poetry of African Americans and Jewish Americans will ...
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African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Manhattan
Tue, Nov 27, 2012 - Sun, Apr 14, 2013
This exhibition highlights the specific African artifacts acquired by the New York avant-garde and its most influential patrons during the 1910s and 1920s. Reflecting on the dynamism of New York's ...
African Burial Ground National Monument
New York
In May 1991, the General Services Administration unearthed the skeletal remains of nearly 400 individuals of predominantly African ancestry while preparing to erect a building in Lower Manhattan. The building ...
African Children’s Choir
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts
Bronx
Sat, Feb 02, 2013, 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
An uplifting evening of music and hope in celebration of black history month.
Apollo Club Harlem
Apollo Theater
Manhattan
Mon, Feb 18, 2013, 8:30 pm
Harlem was home to New York’s hottest clubs in the '30s and '40s, where the music of Billie, Ella, Dinah, Sarah, Duke and Dizzy became legend. Now the glamour, electricity ...
Ashé to Amen: African Americans and Biblical Imagery
Museum of Biblical Art
Manhattan
Fri, Feb 15, 2013 - Sun, May 26, 2013
The exhibition examines the complex place of the Bible in the life and art of African Americans, with particular emphasis on how biblical traditions were used by artists of African ...
Black Angels Over Tuskegee
Actors' Temple
Manhattan
Sat, Jun 05, 2010 - Sat, Mar 02, 2013
You don't need to see the film 'Red Tails' by George Lucas to get the Tuskegee Airmen story. This play follows six of the airmen as they become pilots in ...
Black History Month Benefit Concert
Weill Recital Hall
Manhattan
Mon, Feb 04, 2013, 8:00 pm
Works by Bach, Brahms, Bartok, William Foster McDaniel performed by members of the New York City Housing Symphony Orchestra with Tali Makell, conductor.
Black History Month: The Women
National Jazz Museum in Harlem
Manhattan
Tue, Feb 05, 2013, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
The Jazz Museum in Harlem celebrates Black History Month by focusing on four women who broke boundaries by their sheer genius and talent. These evening programs feature great music illuminating ...
Black History Through Poetry and Quilting
Hollis-Queens Library
Queens
Thu, Feb 21, 2013, 4:30 pm
We will read together the book "I Lay Down My Stitches" by Cynthia Grady, illustrated by Michele Wood, learn about events in history, view quilting images and participate in a ...
Black Stars of the Great White Way
Queensborough Performing Arts Center
Queens
Sun, Feb 17, 2013, 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Broadway choral director/arranger Chapman Roberts has created this blockbuster evening of Broadway show stoppers delivered by an all-male cast featuring Norm Lewis, Tony Award nominee for "Porgy and Bess," and ...
Blues For Smoke
Whitney Museum of American Art
Manhattan
Thu, Feb 07, 2013 - Sun, Apr 28, 2013
Featuring the work of visual artists such as David Hammons, Zoe Leonard and Jean-Michel Basquiat alongside the music of jazz, blues and hip-hop legends, the exhibition considers how the blues ...
Composers Now: Contemporary Creativity Through the African Diaspora
The Harlem School of the Arts (HSA)
Manhattan
Sat, Feb 09, 2013, 12:00 pm
Panelist include: Afro-Cuban composer Yosvany Terry, Afro-funk expressionist composer Major Andres Scurlock, and prominent African-American visual artists.
Detroit ’67
Public Theater
Manhattan
Tue, Feb 26, 2013 - Sun, Mar 17, 2013
It's 1967 in Detroit. Motown music is getting the party started, and Chelle and her brother Lank are making ends meet by turning their basement into an after-hours joint. But ...
Discussing New York’s Burial Ground with Dr. Martia G. Goodson
Kingsland Homestead at Queens Historical Society
Queens
Sun, Feb 10, 2013, 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm
In honor of Black History Month, join historian Dr. Martia G. Goodson, author of "New York's African Burial Ground," for an in-depth look at this important burial site and individual ...
The Dream Continues: Photographs of Martin Luther King Murals by Vergara
New-York Historical Society
Manhattan
Ongoing
Continuing its commitment to recognizing the history of Civil Rights in this country, the New-York Historical Society will exhibit approximately thirty photographs by MacArthur Fellow Camilo José Vergara, who has ...
Dreamgirls
133rd Street Arts Center
Manhattan
Fri, Jan 18, 2013 - Sun, Feb 03, 2013
"Dreamgirls" is a musical based on the show-business aspirations and successes of renowned R&B acts: The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown and others. The musical is a classic, "rags to ...
The Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble 34th Annual Concert
Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture
Bronx
Sat, Feb 02, 2013, 7:00 pm
The Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble in collaboration with Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture presents its 34th Annual Concert, "Release Your Song," featuring music of the African American Religious Experience
Faith Ringgold: Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines
MTA Subway: 125th Street
Manhattan
Ongoing
“Flying Home” is a mosaic mural that honors Harlem notables and makes them fly. The mural on one platform depicts performers, painters and sports figures like Dinah Washington, Sugar Ray ...
Family Legacies: A New Book by the New York Chapter of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building-New York Public Library
Manhattan
Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Join the authors of Family Legacies, a new book from the Jean Sampson Scott Greater New York Chapter of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, for an inspiring conversation about ...
Film & Discussion: Prep School Negro
Central Library-Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn
Sat, Feb 16, 2013, 4:00 pm
This documentary looks at the hurdles faced by prep school students of color, namely filmmaker André Robert Lee, whose full scholarship for an elite education cost more than anyone could ...
Fore
Studio Museum in Harlem
Manhattan
Sun, Nov 11, 2012 - Sun, Mar 10, 2013
"Fore" presents 29 emerging artists of African descent who live and work across the United States. Born between 1971 and 1987, the artists in "Fore" work in diverse media, often ...
Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui
Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn
Fri, Feb 08, 2013 - Sun, Aug 04, 2013
The first solo exhibition in a New York museum by the globally renowned contemporary artist El Anatsui, this show will feature over 30 works in metal and wood that transform ...
I Am Black Art
Bread and Roses Cultural Project
Manhattan
Tue, Jan 15, 2013 - Tue, Mar 05, 2013
1199SEIU Bread and Roses Cultural Project presents "I Am Black Art," an exhibition featuring the works of Tyson Hall and Ka-Son Reeves.
Making Roots, and Making TV History
Museum of the Moving Image
Queens
Mon, Feb 04, 2013, 7:00 pm
A discussion with "Roots" stars Ben Vereen, Lou Gossett Jr., LeVar Burton, and Leslie Uggams, moderated by Donald Thoms. Presented in collaboration with Pioneers of Television, the PBS series on ...
Mary Lou Williams Celebration
Park Avenue Christian Church
Manhattan
Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 8:00 pm
Celebrating the renowned African-American musician Mary Lou Williams, a jazz pianist, composer, and innovator.
Medgar Evers Black History Month Art Exhibit
Medgar Evers College
Brooklyn
Tue, Feb 12, 2013 - Wed, Mar 06, 2013
The Medgar Evers College Black History Month Committee in conjunction with the College’s Council on Visual Arts presents its annual Black History Month art exhibit. The theme is: From the Emancipation ...
New York Public Library‚ Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
New York
One of the most important locations outside of Africa for the study of the history and culture of peoples of African descent, the center boasts five million volumes, including rarities ...
Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980
MoMA PS1
Queens
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 - Mon, Mar 11, 2013
Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980 chronicles the vital legacy of the African American arts community in Los Angeles, examining a pioneering group of black artists whose ...
Ouattara Watts: The Project Room
French Institute Alliance Française
Manhattan
Thu, Jan 24, 2013 - Sat, Feb 23, 2013
Drawing on his African roots and experiences as a New Yorker, Ouattara Watts creates mixed-media paintings that transcend geography to address the broader expanse of the cosmos.
Rain Pryor’s Fried Chicken and Latkes
Actors' Temple
Manhattan
Sat, Jan 19, 2013 - Mon, Feb 25, 2013
"Fried Chicken and Latkes," written and conceived by Rain Pryor, is a hero’s journey from the standpoint of a person born into a world of “Us vs. Them” – but ...
Roundtable ’63
Kumble Theater of the Performing Arts
Brooklyn
Fri, Feb 22, 2013, 7:30 pm
Roundtable '63 is an inter-generational modern day civil rights round table dialogue re-examining the relevance of the moral, social, political, educational and human rights issues of 1963 versus 2013.
Show Way
McGinn/Cazale Theatre
Manhattan
Sun, Jan 20, 2013 - Sun, Mar 03, 2013
In Show Way, 11-year old Toshi Georgiana has lost a beloved family heirloom. As she searches for it, she is led by generations of women who came before her, from ...
Tar Baby
DR2 Theatre
Manhattan
Sat, Jan 05, 2013 - Sat, Jan 19, 2013
The celebrated Huffington Post and NY Magazine comedian Desiree Burch presents Tar Baby, the tale of America’s black-and-white love affair from shotgun wedding to “post-racial” relationship. Speaking to a growing ...
This Week in Blackness: How to Be Black with Elon James White and Baratunde Thurston
Central Library-Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn
Wed, Feb 20, 2013, 7:00 pm
Thurston and White take the library's stage for a night of laugh-out-loud comedy.
Visualizing Emancipation
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture | New York Public Library
Manhattan
Tue, Feb 12, 2013 - Sat, Mar 16, 2013
To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Schomburg presents 171 pre– and post– Civil War era photographs of enslaved and free black women, men and children.
Weeksville Heritage Center
Brooklyn
This historic museum preserves the history of the free and intentional 19th century African-American community of Weeksville. In addition to tours of the Hunterfly Road houses, there are a variety ...
Words are Freedom
Dwyer Cultural Center
Brooklyn
Sun, Feb 03, 2013 - Sun, Feb 24, 2013
The Words are Freedom series take place every Sunday through February for Black History Month. Each program takes a look at notable American slaves and their stories.
The Worlds of Ntozake Shange
Barnard College
Manhattan
Thu, Feb 14, 2013, 6:00 pm
Join Africana Studies for a two-day celebration of playwright, poet, and novelist Ntozake Shange ’70, featuring student performances of her work, reflections on her legacy with Shange herself and acclaimed ...