STATEHOUSE CALENDAR

Black History Month Schedule:

Tuesday, February 3 at noon

A Century of Black History Commemoration: Preservation & Truth, by the Thiossane Institute

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Join the Thiossane (pronounced cha-sahn) Institute for a special performance and experience the richness of West African culture through dance and music to create a space of learning and growth through traditional African culture. There will be a question-and-answer session after the performance. 

Tuesday, February 10 at noon

Freedom on the Frontier: Native & African-American Paths to Liberty in Revolutionary-Era and Early 19th-Century Ohio

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Freedom on the Frontier explores how Native nations in Revolutionary-era and early 19th-century Ohio created unexpected pathways of settlement for African-descended people fleeing slavery or increasingly restrictive laws. Through case studies and frontier history, the program reveals how Native traditions of adoption, sanctuary, and mobility challenged European and U.S. notions of citizenship and slavery. This program will also discuss Black life on the frontier in this time period and how African American and Native American Cultures interacted, including multi-racial communities.

Logan York, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma

Dr. Andrea Frohne, Ohio University

Kiah Jenkins, student at Ohio University 

Philip Hutchinson, Ohio Department of Natural Resources 

Tuesday, February 17 at noon

Exhuming the Archives: Early Black Settlement Communities of Cincinnati, by The National Underground Railroad and Freedom Center

Recommended for ages 13 and up.

This presentation will explore the Social Justice Curator’s recent investigative efforts to learn more about the inhabitants who called Little Africa, Bucktown, and Little Bucktown home in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. By sourcing newspaper archives and census data, she will demonstrate how she uses the resources of her public library to learn about the built environment around her.

Tuesday, February 24 at noon

The Green Book in Columbus, by the Columbus Metropolitan Library

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Join Columbus Metropolitan Library staff members from the Local History and Genealogy Department to learn about the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide published from 1936 to 1966 to help Black Americans navigate the dangers of segregation and discrimination while traveling the U.S. Explore the history of the guide, Central Ohio Green Book sites and the people who made them possible in our community.

American Sign Language interpretation will be available, however please RSVP to tours@ohiostatehouse.org for reserved seating.

All events will be livestreamed by the Ohiochannel.org