STATEHOUSE NEWS

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The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) will celebrate Black History Month with free educational programs every Tuesday in February at noon in the Statehouse Atrium. Topics include West African music and dance, Freedom on the Frontier, Black Communities in Cincinnati and and history programs by the Underground Railroad and Freedom Center and the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Admission is free. Reservations are not required, but large groups and schools are encouraged to RSVP to tours@ohiostatehouse.org. American Sign Language interpretation will be available, however please RSVP to tours@ohiostatehouse.org for reserved seating.


Scheduled noon presentations include:

Feb. 3- A Century of Black History Commemoration: Preservation & Truth

Music and Dance presented by The Thiossane Institute

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.



Feb. 10- Freedom on the Frontier: Native & African-American Paths to Liberty in Revolutionary-Era and Early 19th-Century Ohio

This program is recommended for ages 10 and up.

This panel discussion 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 and how African-American and Native-American cultures interacted, including multi-racial communities.


Feb. 17- Exhuming the Archives: Early Black Settlement Communities of Cincinnati

Presentation by The National Underground Railroad and Freedom Center

This program is 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 surrounding built environment.


Feb. 24 – The Green Book in Columbus

Presented by the Columbus Metropolitan Library

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.

Each program will be live-streamed and recorded by OhioChannel.org.

Located on the ground floor, the Capitol Café is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the Statehouse Museum Shop is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.