The first week of Black History Month is here, and so are a variety of online events — from book talks to Facebook livestreams to online concerts – intended to educate, uplift, and rejoice in Black history. While the ability to gather in person isn’t an option this year, that hasn’t stopped the month’s overarching purpose: to recognize the contributions of Black communities and celebrate their often untold histories.
Here are some events to help you join in the celebratory month and continue your personal education.
Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History, credited with founding Black History Month after its leader Carter G. Woodson‘s efforts to create a “Negro History and Literature Week” in 1924, is hosting a month-long virtual festival of free events on the organization’s YouTube channel.
Be sure to check out the Feb. 20 marquee event, featuring scholar, critic, and host of the television series “Finding Your Roots,” Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Smithsonian Institute and the National Museum of African American History and Culture
The museum is hosting a month-long “Uplifting the Black Family” social media campaign on the organization’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. Daily conversations will “share century-old stories, dynamic photographs, and items in its collection and family history resources,” according to the museum’s blog.
A Smithsonian Institute affiliate, the organization is also involved in weekly lectures and research opportunities, including seminars like “Using Probate Records to Research Enslaved Ancestors” on Feb. 6 and a collaborative event with the National Portrait Gallery on Feb. 11 featuring collection items that highlight the history of race and medicine.
Children are invited to join the museum’s “Joyful Fridays” weekly programming, which encourages kids to use art as education, introducing them to significant objects in the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s collection. Interested families should register beforehand and can download the online creativity kit.
The museum will even host a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon starting on Feb. 21, in which “participants will create and edit Wikipedia pages for African American STEM professionals, highlighting the impacts on their communities, nation, and the world,” according to the Smithsonian website.
New York Public Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s lecture series, “Between the Lines,” continues this month with author talks and a feature discussion with editors Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain of a new Black history collection, Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America 1619-2019.
The library also has a calendar of over 100 events from various departments. Highlights include “Doc Chat: Exploring the Black Alternative Press of the 1960s and 1970s” and a series of youth-oriented programming, like “Book Discussion for Kids: Black History Month” on Feb. 4 and “Teen Trivia Tuesday: Black History” on Feb. 9.
The library will also host interactive lessons on researching Black history, like “An Introduction to African American Genealogy” on Feb. 4 and “An Introduction to Researching Black Artists” on Feb. 9.
Stax Music Academy
The Stax Music Academy in Memphis, Tennessee — a nonprofit after-school and summer music institute that honors the legacy of Southern soul recording studio, Stax Records — is hosting its first virtual variety show and Black History Month concert on Feb. 17. “R & R: Rhythm and Revolution: Expressions of Struggle, Collaboration, and Peace” will feature original music from Stax students, as well as prominent Black artists, incorporating lessons about the fight for racial justice and Black recognition in the arts into the performances. The show will also feature important historic sites around Memphis. A $500 prize for songwriting will go to one of the students.
Viewers are encouraged to register beforehand on the academy’s event page.
Museum of African Diaspora
The museum will host its 31st annual literary celebration, African American Poets and their Poetry, through Facebook Live on Feb. 6. The event will feature poetry to “celebrate the theme of The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity and honor the legacies of the late poets Adam David Miller and QR Hand,” according to the event page.
Monthly events on African diaspora and Black culture — including open mic sessions, artist features, and the organization’s book club — will also continue during February. You can find the full calendar on the museum’s website.
The Howard Gospel Choir of Howard University
Howard University honors Black History Month this year with an online viewing of its annual “Let Freedom Sing” concert on Feb. 19. The Howard Gospel Choir will perform well-known pieces as “a celebration of the African American experience in music,” according to the event page, with the spirit of the music embodying “the complexities of the African American experience — hopeful in spite of tremendous struggle and resilient in spite of oppression.”
Registration is free for viewers.
Washington, D.C. History & Culture
In collaboration with grassroots historical society Lost History USA, the nonprofit will host a livestream and virtual history tour of Frederick Douglas heritage sites located around the Maryland and Washington, D.C., area on Feb. 14. The tour will feature locations on the Eastern Shore, Baltimore City, Old Anacostia, and Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia, with a focus on Douglas’ work with the Underground Railroad.
Registration is required to view the livestream.