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Events

 

Black History Month Webinar: “I’m the Family Historian—Now What?”

Online

Presented by the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

Feb. 6, 2025

7–8 p.m.

Planning a reunion or compiling a family history can be rewarding and daunting at the same time. This free webinar will show you how to create a step-by-step plan to explore your family legacy using online and offline resources.

Presented by Cecelia McFadden, Family Legacy Coach and Black Genealogy Expert. Ms. McFadden is also the current president of the Franklin County Genealogical & Historical Society. Learn more and register here.

Poetry of Robert Hayden

Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Cincinnati, OH

Feb. 12, 2025

7–8 p.m.

Kick off our 2025 program year with an interactive poetry discussion with professor John Getz and author Kareem Simpson discussing the work of Robert Hayden, one of the most influential American poets of the 20th century.

This event is free, though registration is required. Learn more and register here.

 

The Tea Room

Ohio History Center, Columbus, OH

Feb. 15, 2025

11 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

This engaging program delves into the deep-rooted connection between tea and Black culture, exploring its historical significance, cultural practices and medicinal properties. Participants will learn how tea has been a symbol of resilience, community and healing within the African diaspora, tracing its journey from African herbal traditions to its role in Black households and social gatherings. Through storytelling, demonstrations and tastings, The Tea Room celebrates the enduring legacy of tea as a bridge between heritage and health.

Tickets are $25/nonmember and $20/Ohio History Connection member.  Learn more and register here.

 

Black History Month Webinar: “There’s an App for That!” Using Technology in Family History Research

Online

Presented by the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

Feb. 20, 2025

7–8 p.m.

Using technology is an everyday part of our lives. You will learn when and how to use technology in your family history research during this free webinar. We’ll include tips on how to keep family memories safe and how to build a spending plan to support your research work.

Presented by Cecelia McFadden, Family Legacy Coach and Black Genealogy Expert. Ms. McFadden is also the current president of the Franklin County Genealogical & Historical Society. Learn more and register here.

 

MEMBER VIP: Get to Know the Harriet Beecher Stowe House

Online

Presented by the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

Feb. 25, 2025

3–4 p.m.

Join Christina Hartlieb, site manager, to get the inside scoop on the recent restoration of the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati. Learn about the two time periods (1840 and 1940) represented in the house and why this site is such a special part of Cincinnati and Ohio history.

This webinar is free for Ohio History Connection members and $10 for nonmembers. Register here.

Exhibits at the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center

 

2024 Art of Soul! Juried Art Show

The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (NAAMCC) presents the 10th annual 2024 Art of Soul! Juried Art Show.  Artists from across the United States and beyond submit their work to the juried art exhibition. The Art of Soul! Juried Art Show highlights the diversity, skill, and perspective of all dimensions of African American history and culture throughout the United States and the Black diaspora.

 

African Americans Fighting for a Double Victory

Explore the many ways that African Americans served our country in the military and on the home front during World War II, through this exhibit of World War II materials from National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center collections. Discover the art of Charles Alston, commissioned by the Office of War Information to promote the war effort among African Americans, explore stories of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Red Ball Express, the Triple Nickels and Wilberforce-area veterans, and get a look at the impact World War II veterans had on the advances in civil rights that followed the war.

 

African Art: Form, Function, and Fraught Histories

Although often misunderstood by the West, African art had an enormous impact on the world. While Africans created objects for culturally specific functions, their aesthetics challenged Western society and shaped its perceptions. This exhibit presents the relationship between the aesthetic and cultural functions of African art objects and the historical context of their global influence. The exhibition addresses modern questions of cultural appropriation, representation, and repatriation in presenting this updated interpretation. Using the museum’s extensive African Art collection, Wright State University Graduate Students in Public History assisted the NAAMCC curatorial staff with its creation.

 

Queens of the Heartland 

The Queens of the Heartland-the exhibit is part of the Ohio History Connection and National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center Women’s Suffrage Centennial celebration. The exhibit will feature the stories of 30 Ohio African American women who were a significant influence in the Suffrage and Civil Rights Movements. The Queens of the Heartland exhibit will tell the stories of pioneering women through panel text as well as three-dimensional objects. This exhibit will also feature portrait illustrations of these historical figures by New York artist Nichole Washington whose current work focuses on identity and celebrates African American women.

 

Rhythm of Revolution-The Transformative Power of Black Art 1619 to the Present

The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, presents a new exhibit called Rhythm of Revolution-The Transformative Power of Black Art 1619 to the Present. The exhibit maps the visual flow of artistic, cultural, social, and political change in America from 1619 to the present day. Using three-dimensional objects from the NAAMCC collections, Rhythm of Revolution explores how Black artists, religious leaders, and activists worked within their spheres of influence to transform Ohio and our nation. Over time, these known and unknown change agents connected deeply rooted African traditions, interpreted those traditions to attempt to solve contemporary challenges, and worked to pave the way forward into a better future.