Black History Month in Boston is a time to explore and discover, and a number of Boston institutions are offering programs and events to facilitate this experience.
MLK: Signs of Freedom at the African-American Meeting House
This new installation celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. King and other heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Poignant scenes captured by Memphis photographer Ernest Withers include protest signs from the Civil Rights era and powerful broadsides from the Abolitionist Movement recall incredible campaigns for human liberty.
This exhibit is a prelude to the upcoming exhibit Freedom Rising which opens in March to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment and the Emancipation Proclamation.
At Hibernian Hall on February 15 and 16 you can see Walk On: The Story of Rosa Parks, a play about the life of Rosa Parks.
Walk On tells the story of Parks from her childhood in rural Alabama to her famous decision to "sit down and be counted." The play paints a portrait of a complex woman who had to find reconciliation within herself in order to become an effective Civil Rights leader.
The Freedom Trail Foundation will be offering the African-American Patriots Tour every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 12:45pm from the Boston Common Visitors Information Center. Led by a costumed guide, visitors view history through the eyes of African-American revolutionaries such as Crispus Attucks, Phyllis Wheatley, Prince Hall, Peter Salem, and others.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum will host the musical play Rosa's Ride February 20, 2013 10:30 AM - 11:30, offering a ride through history with Flying Ship Productions as they present a musical play about Rosa Parks, an ordinary woman who became a civil rights heroine. Learn the real story behind Ms. Parks' historic moment, and enjoy the musical tunes of Rosa's Ride!
Swing by Northeastern University to experience Black by Popular Demand and exhibit which blends the work of three generations of black artists and multiple styles of art.
On the weekend of February 23-24 Old Sturbride Village will be celebrating Black History Month with re-enactors, including a tribute to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, as well "Keys to the Keepers," (Saturday and Sunday) a presentation about American slaves and their descendants keeping hold to their African culture, through storytelling and folklore.
And if you visit the exhibit Forever Free at the Massachusetts Historical Society you can see the actual pen that Abraham Lincoln used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.