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PITTSBURGH --The Smithsonian-affiliated Senator John Heinz History Center interprets and preserves African American history and culture year-round through a variety of events and exhibitions curated by the museum's African American Program.
In recognition of Black History Month, the program will present a series of free virtual programs throughout February:
• Exploring the Black Family with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
"The Bonds of Family and Legacy"
Feb. 11, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
In partnership with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, this program will explore the Black family, a topic of study in many disciplines, including history, literature, the visual arts, social policy and the culture of the culinary arts. The discussion will include Christin Haynes, founder of Black Family Scholar; Jessica Harris, award-winning journalist and African Diaspora foodways expert; and Eric Jackson, professor of history and director of Black world studies at Northern Kentucky University. An introduction will be provided by Samuel W. Black, director of the center's African American Program.
Admission is free for this virtual program, but advance registration is required.
• Seventh-annual Black History Month lecture
"(Re)Making History: Memory, Mythmaking, and the Civil Rights Movement"
Feb. 12, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Virtual visitors can join noted author, scholar, and professor Hasan Jeffries for the history center's seventh-annual Black History Month Lecture. The program will explore how popular misconceptions about the civil rights movement remake history, altering everything from the African American freedom struggle's leadership, goals, tactics and guiding philosophies, to the depth and breadth of the white opposition, including the form and function of racial terror. Drawing on popular media forms, including movies and political cartoons, the discussion will interrogate leading myths about the African American fight for equality.
Jeffries is an associate professor of history at Ohio State University and has contributed to several public history projects, serving as the lead scholar for the renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn.
Admission is free for this virtual program, but advance registration is required.
• From Slavery to Freedom Film Series
"Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek"
Feb. 17, 5:30 p.m.
This film series, in partnership with the Frick Environmental Center of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, examines themes from the history center's award-winning exhibition through the presentation of film screenings throughout the year.
For Black History Month, the center will virtually screen "Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek," which explores the painful but inspiring journey of Derrick Evans, a Boston teacher who moves home to coastal Mississippi when the graves of his ancestors are bulldozed to make way for the sprawling city of Gulfport. During the course of a decade, Evans and his neighbors stand up to powerful corporate interests and politicians and face ordeals that include Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil disaster in their struggle for self-determination and environmental justice.
Admission is free for this virtual program, but advance registration is required. Visit heinzhistorycenter.org/events for updates on how to register.
• Educational programs for students and teachers
History center educators will offer free programs for teachers and students (grades 3-6 and 7-12) throughout February that focus on important moments in our region's African American history.
Topics will include Charlie Garlick and the Underground Railroad (Thursday), Martin Delany and Pittsburgh abolitionists (Feb. 11), Western Pennsylvania and the Great Migration (Feb. 18), and the Civil Rights Movement in Pittsburgh (Feb. 25).
Space is very limited, and teachers can e-mail Amanda McAllen at aemcallen@heinzhistorycenter.org for information.
• Exhibits highlight Black heritage in Western Pennsylvania
In addition to Black History Month programming, African American history is on display daily within the history center's six floors of exhibitions, including the award-winning From Slavery to Freedom exhibition, which explores more than 250 years of African American history in Western Pennsylvania.
The History Center and Sports Museum are located at 1212 Smallman St. in the city's Strip District, and are open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, www.heinzhistorycenter.org.