AADL recognizes Black History Month in February with a number of in-person and online events, as well as videos from past events and content for all ages.
In-Person Events for 2024
Film Screening: There Goes The Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School
Sunday, February 4, 2pm at the Michigan Theater
Join the Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio (7CS) for the premiere of a documentary film about the closing of Ann Arbor's Jones School. In 1965, concerned citizens urged the Board of Education to close the majority-Black school. Ann Arbor joined a nationwide trend of school desegregation during the Civil Rights Era. But for these young students, the loss of a neighborhood school foreshadowed changes to their close-knit community. Gentrification came to Ann Arbor on the heels of desegregation.
Good Black History: Black Business Owners of the 1800s, with Anthony Brogdon
Tuesday, February 6, 6:30pm at the Downtown Library
In this lecture, Detroit-based historian Anthony Brogdon will focus on what he calls "Good Black History": the stories of Black business owners in the 1800s. Learn who they were and how they did it during this presentation and discussion.
Film Screening: The League
Wednesday, February 7, 1pm at the Downtown Library
Film synopsis: The dynamic journey of Negro League baseball's triumphs and challenges is told through previously unearthed archival footage and interviews with legendary players.
This 103-minute film is rated PG.
Film Screening: Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Saturday, February 10, 6pm at the Downtown Library
Film synopsis: Author Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, America and the human condition.
This 120-minute film is rated PG-13.
The African American History of Detroit
Thursday, February 15, 6:30pm at the Traverwood Branch
Join us for a presentation by Professor Peter Boykin on the African American History of Detroit, beginning with illegal slavery in the city, as well as the city becoming a haven for the Underground Railroad. Other topics explored will be the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to Detroit, the election of Coleman Young as mayor, and the economic and political power of the African American population in the city during the latter half of the 20th century.
Film Screening: A Ballerina's Tale
Monday, February 26, 6:00pm at the Downtown Library
Film synopsis: Black ballerina Misty Copeland is profiled in this documentary, which explores her career, her recovery from a serious injury and the lack of diversity in the world of dance.
This 85-minute film is not rated.
AADL and AACHM Living Oral History Project
The Living Oral History Project is a partnership between the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor District Library. It contains interviews that serve as a road map illustrating what local African Americans witnessed, experienced, and contributed to building the community we share today. The associated LOH Digital Collection presents over 2,500 historical photographs and news articles from the AADL Archives about major topics featured in the interviews, including Community Centers, Education, Housing, Employment, Entrepreneurship, and Faith. The LOH Walking Tour showcases historically Black neighborhoods in Ann Arbor.
Click to view all the phases of the Living Oral History project, or view the playlist below.
AADL Black Lives Matter Discussion Series
This intentionally broad discussion series seeks to encourage and support community members in their exploration of and engagement with works that provide insight on anti-Black racism.
Click to view past BLM discussion series videos.
Quote of the Day: Black History Month
Watch a quote come to life every day in February as AADL staff use their skills to make powerful words beautiful. Click for all our videos or watch the playlist below.
Al Paca and Bobby Cat
Puppet neighbors Al Paca and Bobby Cat celebrate Black History Month by exploring what Black History Month is all about and celebrating stories of some of the most influential, interesting, and amazing Black Americans through history. Click to see all of Al Paca and Bobby Cat's videos, or watch the playlist below.
MLK: In His Own Words
Watch 11 videos of hand-drawn Illustrations of quotes from the speeches, articles, and correspondences delivered at various points in Martin Luther King Jr.'s life. Click to see all the quotes or watch the playlist below.
A Selection of Past AADL Events
Culinary Historians | Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue
Across America, the pure love and popularity of barbecue cookery has gone through the roof. Prepared in one regional style or another, in the South and beyond, barbecue is one of the nation’s most distinctive culinary arts. And people aren’t just eating it; they’re also reading books and articles and watching TV shows about it. But why is it, asks Adrian Miller—food writer, attorney and longtime certified barbecue judge—that in today’s barbecue culture African Americans don’t get much love?
In Black Smoke, Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they are coming into their own today. It’s a smoke-filled story of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship. Though often pushed to the margins, African Americans have enriched a barbecue culture that has come to be embraced by all. Miller celebrates and restores the faces and stories of the men and women who have influenced this American cuisine.
This event was held in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor.
The Life and Music of Vicente Lusitano
University of Michigan faculty member Garrett Schumann and UK-based choir conductor Joseph McHardy present a thrilling exploration of the life and music of Afro-Portuguese Renaissance composer Vicente Lusitano. This presentation will feature video and audio of McHardy’s world-class performances of Lusitano’s compositions recorded earlier this summer, alongside discussion of the pair’s collaborative research uncovering new details of Lusitano’s music and biography.
Since 2020, McHardy and Schumann’s work on Vicente Lusitano has been featured by the BBC, appeared in VAN Magazine, presented at multiple international academic conferences, and their multiple forthcoming publications on this subject include an article in the celebrated encyclopedia Grove Music Online. In June 2022, McHardy led the world’s first-ever all-Lusitano concert tour in England with an ensemble of renowned vocalists assembled in partnership with the award-winning Chineke! Foundation. Recordings from this tour will appear on a CD released through Decca in the near future.
In addition to sharing their findings, Schumann and McHardy will speak to the connections between Lusitano’s misrepresentation in 500 years of classical music scholarship and this field’s historic erasure of composers of African descent and their music.
Not Too Close Concert Series: La'Ron Williams
Presented by the Summer Festival and the Ann Arbor District Library, the Not Too Close events took place in August 2020 in select city parks.
Nationally acclaimed and multiple award-winning storyteller La’Ron Williams shares both original and traditional tales that appeal to a wide range of ages and social backgrounds. His energetic, music-spiced presentations are always fun, highly participatory, educational and entertaining. Every program is specifically designed to promote diversity, foster community building, encourage peaceful conflict resolution and teach a host of “pro-social” skills, including empathy, self-expression and attentive listening. Williams has received high praise for his skill at presenting diversity workshops for adults, helping participants understand the nature of “invisible” bias and moving beyond the emotional stumbling blocks that prevent us from taking collective responsibility for creating a just and equitable society.
Herb Boyd Discusses Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination
Herb Boyd discusses his award-winning book, Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination. Black Detroit looks at the evolving culture, politics, economics, and spiritual life of Detroit–a blend of memoir, love letter, history, and clear-eyed reportage that explores the city’s past, present, and future and its significance to the African-American legacy and the nation’s fabric. It brings into focus the major figures who have defined and shaped Detroit, including William Lambert, the great abolitionist; Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records; Coleman Young, the city’s first black mayor; diva songstress Aretha Franklin; Malcolm X; and Ralph Bunche, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Building Matters: Black Architects in Michigan
Local experts discuss the contributions of Black architects, architectural designers, and landscape architects to the built environment of Michigan. They touch on Michigan's first Black-owned architectural firm, Detroit's historic Black Bottom neighborhood, and Detroit's connection to the rise of hip-hop architecture.
Inspiration: Black History Month Project
Watch an AADL staff member use Library resources in order to plan and gather inspiration for a month-long personal project. Stay tuned for an update when the results are revealed.
Inspiration: Black History Month Project Update
See how a month-long project inspired by Black History Month is shaping up as the month winds down.
2021 Washtenaw Reads Author Event | Jason Reynolds & Brendan Kiely
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely have a conversation about the 2021 Washtenaw Reads selection, All American Boys. They discuss how they came to write All American Boys together, the importance of the book's themes in their own lives, and how we can create meaningful inter-racial dialogue around issues like police brutality.
AADL Podcasts Featuring Black Stories and Black Artists
AADL Productions Podcast: Lola Jones and Carol Gibson
Lola Jones and Carol Gibson are well-known to Anyone familiar with Ann Arbor history. Over the past 30 years they've sought out and documented the history of the African American experience in Ann Arbor through a series of projects under the moniker Another Ann Arbor; it is largely through their work that the Ann Arbor African American story is a part of our shared community identity.
Body of Work
Body of a Work is a not-so-serious podcast that takes a look at someone's, well, body of work. Download episodes on Whitney Houston and Martin Luther King Jr.
Ann Arbor Stories: For All the Marbles
That spring in 1936, seven years into the Great Depression, the entire city of Ann Arbor, age 14 and under, lost their marbles over the biggest sporting event the city had ever known— 1936 Ann Arbor Daily News Marbles Tournament. The champion of the west would punch their ticket to the National Marbles Tournament on the Jersey Shore, and a chance at marbles immortality.
Art Prints from the Black Lives Matter: Call for Artists in AADL's Collection
Following AADL's Black Lives Matter: Call for Black Artists in 2020, the Library worked with local artists to add their work to the Library's permanent circulating art print collection. Browse our full art print catalog and request work from these amazing artists. (link includes other artists in AADL's collection as well)