BLACK HISTORY MONTH Calendar of events

A list of area events to commemorate in February, Black History Month, as submitted to The Vindicator:

MAHONING COUNTY

Saturday: Rory Rennick will share stories about West African folklore trickster, Anansi the Spider, at 2 p.m. at the Newport branch library, 3730 Market St., Youngstown.

Saturday: An African Marketplace, featuring food, vendors and an African and Afro-Caribbean dance performance by Kimberly Phillips, is set for noon to 3 p.m. in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the campus of Youngstown State University.

Feb. 7: Beulah Baptist Church, 570 Sherwood Ave., Youngstown, will host Black History Month events every Sunday this month. A 4 p.m. event is a talent program featuring performers from churches in the Youngstown area. There will be miming, singers, acting, a BHM reading and other talents on display.

Feb. 7: Al Bright, professor emeritus of art and Youngstown Chapter of the Links Inc., will host a free Black History Month lecture from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Zona Auditorium on the first floor of the Beecher Center at the Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave. Bright will discuss works by African-American artists in the Butler collection, including Romare Bearden, Horace Pippin, Sam Gilliam, Robert S. Duncanson, Jacob Lawrence, Benny Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, John Wilson and Richard Hunt. Refreshments will be served. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For information, contact wendyswick@butlerart.com or call 330-743-1107, ext. 123.

Feb. 8: Sogbety Diomande, a native of the Ivory Coast, will offer a glimpse of West Africa through drumming and dance, colorful costumes, musical instruments, rhythms and songs in a 7 p.m. performance at the Austintown library, 600 S. Raccoon Road.

Feb. 8: Celebrate Black History month with crafts, books, and games at 6 p.m. at the East branch library, 430 Early Road, Youngstown.

Feb. 10: Youngstown State University’s department of art and the Africana studies program will host art exhibit for African-American history month featuring the artwork of two YSU alumni, Maple Turner III and Henry Holden III, from Feb. 1 through 26 in the Judith Rae Solomon Gallery in Bliss Hall. An opening reception is set for 5 p.m. in the gallery, and there will be an artists’ presentation and discussion from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the McDonough Museum of Art.

Feb. 11: “It’s Showtime at Pete’s Apollo!” an evening of amateur-night performances by YSU students, will take place from 8 to 10 p.m. in The Hub at Kilcawley Center.

Feb. 14: A movie on African-American history is set for 4 p.m. at Beulah Baptist Church, 570 Sherwood Ave., Youngstown.

Feb. 16: Rory Rennick will tell the story of how Henry “Box” Brown escaped slavery by shipping himself to freedom in a wooden crate at 6:30 p.m. at the Youngstown library, 305 Wick Ave. Brown’s tale is based on a book by Ellen Levine. For children.

Feb. 20: Friends of the East branch library will host a black history program at 1 p.m. at 430 Early Road. There will be a special presentation, crafts for children and sweet tea, black-eyed peas and sweet potato pie will be served.

Feb. 21: The Rev. Henry McNeil of Elizabeth Baptist Church will speak at 4 p.m. at Beulah Baptist Church, 570 Sherwood Ave., Youngstown. He will discuss the history and future of the Civil Rights Movement.

Feb. 23: Youngstown library, 305 Wick Ave., will celebrate African-American authors, artists and inventors with a family story time, songs and activities at 6:30 p.m. Snack provided. Children under age 7 must be accompanied by an adult.

Feb. 24: “Black Voices Matter: Race and Gender in the Age of Social Media,” a talk by Angela Burt-Murray, will take place at 2 p.m. in Williamson Hall Auditorium, Room 1171 at YSU. Burt-Murray is the former editor-in-chief of ESSENCE and co-founder of Cocoa Media Group.

Feb. 27: Mount Hope Veterans Memorial Park will host its fourth annual black history celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Reed’s Chapel A.M.E. Church, 1939 Jacobs Road, Youngstown. There will be a presentation at 1 p.m. For information, email mthope@sharonline.org.

Feb. 27: A BHM program featuring singing, dancing, poetry and other artistic performances will take place at 5 p.m. at Rising Star Baptist Church, 2943 Wardle Ave., Youngstown.

Feb. 28: The Rev. Emmanuel T. Adams of Old Glory Church will speak on the Black Lives Matter movement at 4 p.m. at Beulah Baptist Church, 570 Sherwood Ave., Youngstown.

Ongoing: “Ebony Lifeline Sports Museum: The Valley’s Diverse Athletic Heritage” is on display through April 30 in the Youngstown Foundation Community History Gallery at the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., Youngstown. It features a collection of sports-related images, trophies and equipment that highlight the sports contributions of the African American and Latino communities in the Mahoning Valley and was created by the Ebony Lifeline Support Group in 1996 as part of the celebration of Youngstown’s bicentennial. The center is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For information visit www.mahoninghistory.org or call 330-743-2589.

TRUMBULL COUNTY

Wednesday: A Great Lives series for children in grades 1 through 6 highlights influential people through arts, crafts, books and video. Edna Lewis, a black chef of the 1940s, will be the focus of a 4 p.m. event at the Warren library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW. Registration required; call 330- 399-8807, ext. 206.

Feb. 20: Storyteller Jocelyn Dabney will visit the Liberty library, 415 Church Hill-Hubbard Road, at 1 p.m. Dabney is a storyteller in the African-American oral tradition that will incorporate music, call and response and participatory stories. Free.

Feb. 21: The Harambee Youth Group of Youngstown will visit the Warren library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW, at 3 p.m. to present traditional African music and dances in a performance for all ages. Free.

Feb. 23: A guest presentation on the Dred Scott decision will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Warren library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW. Paul Goebbel will recount the story of Scott, a slave who struggled to gain his freedom through the courts and eventually took his case to the Supreme Court. The SCOTUS decision on his case sparked enormous political reaction at the coming of the Civil War and destroyed any chance of agreement between the North and the South over slavery in the territories. Free.

Feb. 24: A book discussion on “President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman” by William Lee Miller is set for 7 p.m at the Howland library, 9095 E. Market St. The work is a biography of Lincoln and the moral dilemmas he faced with a nation divided by slavery and war. The book is available to borrow from the library in paper and audiobook format.

Feb. 25: The Warren library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW, will be the setting of a 6:30 p.m. family storytime, “Learning About John Coltrane.” Families with children preschool age and older will hear stories about the legendary jazz saxophonist. An activity will follow.

LAWRENCE COUNTY

Feb. 10: Retired educator S. Jean Speight will be the featured speaker at a Black History Month program at 7 p.m. in the Joseph A. Clavelli History Center of the Lawrence County Historical Society, 408 N. Jefferson St., New Castle, Pa. Speight share her knowledge of African-American Women such as Fannie Lou Hamer, an American voting-rights activist and civil-rights leader; journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, one of the first two African-Americans accepted at the University of Georgia; and representative Barbara Jordan, the first African-American elected to the Texas senate and first black female elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The event is free and open to the public. For information, call 724-658-4022.