Dear Dr. Debbie,
We have a family of all skin tones and know first-hand the stories of struggle for equality in this country. While we’ve told our children age-appropriate versions of these stories, as well as stories of great triumph, they need to know that this history is more than family history. For the past four years, half of my parenting life, I’ve been too nervous about exposure to germs to take the family to in-person events for African American History Month. How do we catch up with an eight-year-old and five-year-old?
–History Buff
Dear H.B.,
This is an important celebration of the achievements of African Americans in which all Americans can participate. The month-long holiday offers opportunities to showcase the representation of African Americans as contributors and change makers.
As far as concerns about contagion, at the moment things look clear enough for indoor activities out in public. Updates on Covid-19 cases in the county are made each Wednesday by the Anne Arundel County Health Department. As of this writing, the local hospital admissions for Covid-19 are at a “Low“ rating.
A Theme of Arts
Did you know that each year African American History Month has a different theme? For 2024 you can focus on individuals and events in the arts! There’s plenty of musical ground to cover from spirituals to ragtime to bluegrass to funk to rap to go-go. Literary legacies exist from Phillis Wheatley’s poems to Langston Hughes, who encouraged other Harlem writers to love who they were and where they came from, to contemporary writers of the 2st century. Add in all the trail blazing actors, dancers, artists, movie directors, and fictitious super heroes that have enriched American culture and you’ll have plenty to explore.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is offering mid-week concerts for families featuring Jazz of the Harlem Renaissance and a showing of the Black Panther movie with a live orchestra playing the Oscar and Grammy-winning score. The BSO is also offering a family concert of Calypso music.
Also in Baltimore, the Reginald Lewis Museum has two art exhibits that can prompt conversation about historic struggles – Make Good Trouble: Marching for Change and Freedom Bound: Runaways of the Chesapeake.
Annapolis Has History
While not arts focused, the Museum of Historic Annapolis has family activities for African American History Month on February 3rd including a living local legend, Dr. Faye Watson Allen, the first female African American doctor in Anne Arundel County. Her late husband, Dr. Aris T. Allen, was the first African American member of the county Board of Education.
Take your time to tour downtown Annapolis at your own pace to catch historic buildings and monuments. Or gather up a group of friends and family to schedule a walking tour or bus tour with Our Legacy Tours.
It’s a short drive from the city to the public park at Carr’s Beach to pay tribute to this historic music venue that scheduled such musical celebrities as: Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, The Shirelles, Little Richard, and Billie Holiday. Efforts are underway to add signage and other amenities to preserve the history of this special place.
Nation’s Capital
The National Museum of African American History and Culture has family events in February, some of which are arts based. A current exhibit is about Afrofuturism, exploring music and pop culture of the past as it imagined the future.
Chesapeake Children’s Museum
Do you and your children like to pretend? Visitors to Chesapeake Children’s Museum are encouraged to come in costume and take on the role of characters in African American history for an event on Saturday, February 3. You’ll give a brief speech so the others can guess who you are, and you will have a chance to see if you know who they are portraying!
It is from understanding the past that we can prepare for a better future.
By Dr. Debbie
Deborah Wood, Ph.D. is a child development specialist www.drdebbiewood.com and founding director of Chesapeake Children’s Museum. The museum is open daily from 10 am to 4 pm. Online reservations are available or call: 410-990-1993. Each Thursday there is a guided nature walk at 10:30 am. Art and Story Times with Mrs. Spears are on Monday mornings at 10:30 am.
Saturday, February 3 is the African American History Challenge from 1 to 2 pm sponsored by the Annapolis Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.