Counties celebrate Black History Month

African-American legacies explored in counties from coast to coast this month

February is the shortest month of the year, but that hasn’t stopped counties across the nation from jam-packing their calendars with Black History Month observances and celebrations.

From New Castle County, Del. to Clark County, Nev., counties have issued proclamations, hosted lectures, sponsored concerts and film festivals, among other activities, to highlight African-American history.

Some have been countywide celebrations; in other cases, county elected leaders have played key roles in marking the occasion.

Fulton County, Ga. Commissioner Marvin Arrington began hosting a black history film festival before taking office in 2015 and has continued and expanded the event since then. It now includes an essay contest and a student film competition. The focus is unsung heroes.

“We all know about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks,” he said, “but we do not know the stories of the Mary Jacksons and Katherine Johnsons,” referring to the protagonists in the recent film Hidden Figures — about the contributions of African-American women to the U.S. space program in the 1960s.

“It’s so important, I think, for us to hear those stories and for young people to be exposed to them,” he continued. “Because a lot of these young people don’t know if they can make it. They don’t know if they can have a chance or make a difference, and sometimes just seeing an example or being exposed to someone who did something before you is enough of an impetus to spur action from that person.”

This is the third year that New Castle County has celebrated Black History Month with a “Salute to Black Greek Life,” focusing on the contributions of the nine historically black sororities and fraternities, known collectively as the “Divine Nine.”

For Marcus Henry, general manager of the county’s Department of Community Services, the reason is simple: “Because black history is American history. African Americans are an integral part of our history, and it’s important to celebrate that.

“I think it’s important that we always contextualize what we’re trying to do here,” he added. “Not to be too political, with what’s happening in the world today, we need to celebrate as much as we can our diversity, and there’s strength in our diversity, so in New Castle County we want to celebrate that.”

Clark County, Nev. kicked off the month Feb. 1 in the commission’s board room with a panel discussion titled “West Las Vegas: Daring to Dream.”

It highlighted a historic area northwest of the Vegas Strip that during de facto segregation in the 1920s developed into an alternate casino and entertainment hub for blacks. The panel also took a forward look at the African-American community today as it relates to the gaming industry, education, employment and law enforcement relationships.

The following week, Commissioner Lawrence Weekly hosted “An Evening of African American Culture,” featuring music, art and dance in downtown Las Vegas, the county seat.

“Being the only African American on my board, and the only person of color, I make it my business to highlight the contributions of not only African Americans, but I make sure that Hispanic Heritage month is recognized,” he said. “I make sure that we do something … for Asian American Heritage Month.”

Elsewhere across the nation, counties featured information on their websites and social media promoting educational and entertainment events, many at county libraries and community centers, occurring during the month.

Mecklenburg County, N.C. shared some lesser-known facts, such as the county seal’s having been designed by an African-American man.

It also noted that the county’s Romare Bearden Park honors the late artist, born in Charlotte in 1911, whose works were exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. “His collages, watercolors, oils, photomontages and prints are imbued with visual metaphors from his past in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Harlem and from a variety of historical, literary and musical sources,” according to beardenfoundation.org.

In addition to celebrating black history, some county officials are being honored for making history of their own. Detroit-area radio station WWJ profiled Wayne County Commissioner Alisha Bell, a NACo Board member, as part of its Black History Month series. Bell is serving her eighth term on the County Board, and the station acknowledged her as having been, in 2002, the youngest African-American woman elected to a county commission in the United States.

Her biggest role model? Her mother, the late Edna Bell, a former Wayne County commissioner.

In Manatee County, Fla., commissioners issued a proclamation at their Feb. 7 meeting, noting that “Black History Month has become a symbolic time period in which the appreciation and celebration of African Americans begins every year and continues all year….”

Also on the seventh, Santa Barbara County, Calif hosted a black history program that included a performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing, often called the black national anthem. A reception followed at which attendees were encouraged to wear African garb.

Carter G. Woodson, a Buckingham County, Va.-born, Harvard-educated scholar and historian is widely acknowledged in the United States as the “father of black history,” spearheaded Black History Month’s precursor, “Negro History Week” in 1926. It was expanded to a month-long observance in 1976.