Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African-Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. The event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African-Americans.

Black History Month was first proposed by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University in February 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month took place at Kent State a year later, from Jan. 2 to Feb. 28, 1970, and was then celebrated throughout America in educational institutions, centers of Black culture and community centers. President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month in 1976, during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial, and called upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Some of the month’s local events include:

Thursday, Feb. 3, 6 to 9 p.m. The George Mason Award Ceremony to Honor Publishers of Richmond Free Press.

The live streaming event features a conversation between Mrs. Jean Patterson Boone and VCU Professor Chioke l’Anson, the director of community media at the Virginia Public Media and Institute of Contemporary Art Community Media Center, and a radio announcer for NPR’s sponsorship messages.

The Virginia Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will also present its 2020 George Mason Award to Mrs. Boone, publisher of the Richmond Free Press, and her late husband, Mr. Ray Boone, who founded the award-winning weekly 30 years ago this January. (The program, previously scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.)

Streaming tickets for the live event at: tinyurl.com/booneGMA.

Henrico Public Library- Speaker event

Saturday, Feb. 5, at 2 p.m., Fairfield Area Library, 1401 N. Laburnum Ave. and Saturday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m., Glen Allen Branch Library, 10501 Staples Mill Road.

Biographer and filmmaker Elvatrice Belsches will take the audience on a multimedia journey amplifying the extraordinary contributions of educator Virginia E. Randolph.

Born in 1870, Ms. Randolph was an educator in Henrico County who was named the United States’ first “Jeanes Supervising Industrial Teacher” by the county’s Superintendent of Schools, Jackson Davis. She led a program funded by the Jeanes Foundation to upgrade vocational training throughout the U.S. South. As her career progressed, she was an advocate for public health and juvenile justice reform.

In 2009, Ms. Randolph was posthumously honored by the Library of Virginia as one of their “Virginia Women in History” for her career and contributions to education.

Ms. Belsches currently is working on a documentary about Ms. Randolph’s legacy and is the recipient of a Virginia Humanities grant for her project. For more information visit: henricolibrary.org/calendar

Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation

Friday, Feb. 4, 6 to 9 p.m., Mayes Colbert Ettrick Recreation Center, 20621 Woodpecker Road — Black Excellence Art Exhibition.

Mon. Feb 7, 10 to 11 a.m.,

Huguenot Road Baptist Church, 10525 W. Huguenot Road. Local Matoaca author James McKnight will recap his book, “My Story of a Sharecropper’s Life.

The program is free, but registration is required. For more information contact Susan Miller at (804) 212-8815 or email millers@chesterfield.gov or visit www.chesterfield.gov/150/Parks-and-Recreation.

Monday night Feb.7, 7 p.m., “Risk, Resilience and the Black Family” will be discussed by Dr. Shawn C.T. Jones, an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Jones will exam- ine the mechanisms Black families use to overcome and protect themselves from racism-related stress. For more information, email Chesterfield County Public Library Community Services at CCPLCommunityServices@ chesterfield.gov.

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Castlewood, 10201 Iron Bridge Road – The History of Pleasant View School. Discover the history of one of the last preserved African-American schoolhouses in Chesterfield County during segregation. Pleasant View, located on River Road in Chesterfield, opened in 1930 and closed in 1947.

The program is free, but registration is required one week in advance. Email Bryan Truzzie at truzzieb@chesterfield.gov.

Wednesdays, Feb. 2, Feb. 9, Feb.16 and Feb.23 at 7 p.m., AARP Virginia’s “Wind Down Wednesdays” series of virtual events and short film screenings. Brian Bullock, a local filmmaker and history enthusiast, will share some of his short films and will lead interviews with local historians during “Wind Down Wednes- days.” To register, visit: https:// aarp.cventevents.com/event/ea2d90c2-7c1e-4a06-9ef3-1d8794323643/summary

Feb. 10, 7 to 8:30 p.m., Virginia Commonwealth University Library James Branch Cabell Library Lecture Hall, 901 Park Ave.

Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed tells the sweeping story of Juneteenth. In her searing new book, “On Juneteenth”, the Texas native chronicles both the state and the country’s long road to Juneteenth—and the many hardships African- Americans have endured in the century since. Please register to attend in person or online at: www.support.vcu.edu/event/ BlackHistoryMonth2022

Feb. 19 at 1 p.m., Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site will host a “Matinee with Miss Maggie” program to com- memorate Black History Month. During a virtual film program at 1 p.m., “Imitation of Life,” will be shown. The film addresses one of the questions often asked by visitors to the site upon seeing photographs of Mrs. Walker’s fair complexion: “Did Maggie L. Walker ever pass for white?” While historical evidence suggests she never did so on purpose, “passing” was something many Black people with light skin tones chose to do in Jim Crow America and beyond. The 1934 film “Imitation of Life” was among various stories told about racial passing during Mrs. Walker’s time, exploring a topic that remains a point of fascination today. The public is invited to join a park historian in viewing “Imitation of Life” and discuss the significance of racial passing, both in Mrs. Walker’s time and now. To sign up for this free event that is open to the public, please contact Park Ranger Ben Anderson at Benjamin_Anderson@nps.gov.

Library of Virginia

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 7 to 8:30 p.m. “Virginia Untold — The African American Narrative.” Library of Virginia project manager Lydia Neuroth will introduce a digital project that provides access to records of enslaved and free Black people in the Library of Virginia’s collections. The demonstration includes a question-and-answer period. For more information, email lydia.neuroth@lva.virginia.gov, or call (804) 692-3772.

Sun, Feb. 20, 1 to 6 p.m., Richmond Main Street Station, 1500 East Main St., “UNTOLD”— Black Food and Spirits. “UNTOLD” will highlight Black history relating to the American food and spir- its industry and bring today’s tastemakers under one roof.

Enjoy Main Stage presentations from historians and industry tastemakers.

For tickets, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-food-and-spirits-untold-virginia-tickets-189993334177