February Is Black History Month

Check out these activities around Black History Month:

Thursday, from 11:30 am to 12:50 pm in Founders Hall at Tunxis Community College, a reading and discussion of the "The Slave Narratives" will take place with Poet D. Moss. In the late 1930s, more than 2,300 former slaves from across the South were interviewed by writers of the Works Progress Administration. Born in the last years of slavery or during the Civil Ware, these former salves provided firsthand accounts of their experiences on plantations, in cities and on small farms.

On February 23 from 1 to 2:20 pm, in Room 6-127 at Tunxis Community College, poet, writer, actress, and spoken word performer Lenise NuNuu Smith, will present her poetry and share theatrical pieces. She has performed at local venues such as the Bushnell, out-of-state at Organix Soul in Springfield, Mass, and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City.

For more information, you can call the college at 860-255-3552.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford will be celebrating Black History January through February. The museum will be holding tours throughout the two months to honor activists, abolitionists and reformers. The tour is structured around abolition movements and the people who worked toward emancipation in the 19th century. Detailed information will be given about the fight for equality and justice African Americans encountered through being enslaved.

For more information about events at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/.

The Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum in Wethersfield is also giving tours that focus on enslaved and free African-Americans who resided in Wethersfield in the 1700s. Visitors can sees where the slaves slept and worked. Visitors will learn about how the Revolutionary War affected slavery, learn stories of African-Americans, like Quash Gomer, who was captured in Angola and became a slave in Wethersfield, he later bought his freedom from his owner, married Elenor Smith, and had 10 children.

Tours will be held February 19-20 and February 26-27, adults $8, $7 for military members, and $4 for ages 5 to 18. For more information, contact the museum at 860.529.0612 or http://www.webb-deane-stevens.org/.

Check out addition statewide activities at AAAC-African-American Affairs Commission's website at: http://www.cga.ct.gov/aaac/calendar/Feb_coe.htm.

Check out these activities at CCSU - Central Connecticut State University at: http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=5634.