There are many accessible ways to recognize Black History Month this February from family programs to lectures on Black culture. Here are some inclusive events across the region where Black History Month can be celebrated and experienced:
Celebrating Black Voices Book Tasting
This free, in-person event for teens ages 13 to 18 celebrates Black voices with Young Adult fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novel titles at Chez Belafonte at the Harry Belafonte 115th Street Library, 203 West 115th St., Manhattan.
More information:
Date and time: Feb. 3: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm (In-person)
ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org. Fully accessible to wheelchair users.
Policing Blackness: Resisting Repression, Police Violence, and Surveillance
Held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem (515 Malcolm X Blvd., at 135th St.), this free in-person event — also live-streamed on YouTube — features four scholars presenting recent research on policing, activism, and education. Brittany Friedman will discuss Carceral Apartheid: How Lies and White Supremacists Run Our Prisons; Aaron G. Fountain will examine teen activism and FBI surveillance in High School Students Unite!; Joshua Clark Davis will share findings from Police Against the Movement; and LaShawn Harris will explore the life of Eleanor Bumpurs in Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City.
More information:
Date and time: Feb. 5: 6:30 pm – 8 pm (In-person and livestream on YouTube)
This free event is wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org. Events are free, but registration is requested. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Register here.
Uhuru means Freedom! Join artist Wéma Ragophala of Bridges: A Pan-Afrikan Arts Movement at The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave., for this sensory friendly music and art-making free workshop for children of all abilities.
More information:
Date and time: Feb. 5: 3 pm – 3:45 pm (In-person)
All restrooms are ADA-accessible. Sensory Kits are available for loan upon request at the Admissions Desk. There is an elevator but right now only one family may use the elevator at a time.
This program takes place during free Community Access Thursday hours (every Thursday, 2 pm – 5 pm). RSVP here.
Black History Month: Art by Basquiat – Family Program
New York State Parks Long Island Environmental Education hosts a family program at the Nissequogue River State Park Main Office (Charles & Helen Reichert Administration Building), 799 Saint Johnland Road, on Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Through Basquiat’s self-portraits, he explored his identity as an African American man. His paintings were also tributes to African American historical figures, jazz musicians, sports personalities and writers. His art will be used as inspiration to create self-portraits. Appropriate for ages 8+.
More information:
Date and time: Feb. 15:10:30 am to noon. Cost: $4 per person upon arrival. (In-person)
Reservations are required. Space is limited. If you are unable to keep your reservation, please cancel so others may have the opportunity to attend. Please arrive 10 minutes early and make sure all members in your party have a registered ticket. Questions? Call 631-581-1072
The facility has an accessible bathroom and parking and a ramp is available on the left side of the building.
Join award-winning teacher and art historian Dennis Raverty as he explores African Diaspora Art with a visual lecture at the Port Washington Public Library, 1 Library Drive. The transatlantic slave trade was fertile ground for an identification of traditional orisha spirits from the “Slave Coast” with Catholic saints in a hybrid expression that coupled Christian faith with the indigenous spirituality of West Africa. The similarities and the differences between these intertwined systems will be examined in the art produced at the crossroads between them. This program is part of the library’s celebration of Black History Month.
More information:
Date and time: Feb. 20: noon to 1:30 pm (In-person and online)
Visitors can choose to attend in-person or virtually via registration. The library has accessible bathrooms. The building also features a wheelchair accessible entrance with automatic doors, designated accessible parking spaces, and an elevator providing access to other levels. This event is open to the public.