Black History Month Begins in New Britain

As Black History Month 2019 begins on February 1st, organizations are planning events to honor African American history and plan for a better future.

Black History Month began in 1926, under the leadership of historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson, as a one-week celebration of African-American history. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), founded by Dr. Woodson, the week was selected because it, “corresponded with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln,” and that, “In 1976, this celebration was expanded to include the entire month of February.”

The celebration of Black History Month in New Britain in 2019 will include programs being organized by the NAACP, the Black Democrats and CCSU.

Town Hall Meetings Looking to the Future

The New Britain Branch of the NAACP and the Black Democratic Club of New Britain have announced that they will be hosting a series of Town Hall meetings for Black History Month in February.

The first Town Hall meeting will be on the topic of education. It will be held on Friday, February 1, 2019, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

The Education Town Hall meeting will be held at Spottswood AME Zion Church, which is at 25 Crestwood Lane.

The NAACP and the Black Democratic Club have planned to have three other Town Hall meetings throughout Black History Month.

The second Town Hall meeting will be on February 8th on the topic of economic development and housing. It will be held at Bethesda Apostolic Church, which is at 249 Stanley Street.

On February 15th, there will be a Town Hall meeting on criminal justice. This Town Hall meeting will be held at the St. James Baptist Church at 45 Daly Avenue.

The final Town Hall meeting in the planned series is to be on February 22nd on health care, Social Security and Medicare. Its location is to be determined.

Smithsonian Official to Give Civil Rights Lecture

On February 14th the public has been invited to hear guest speaker Beverly Morgan-Welch, the Associate Director for External Affairs of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Morgan-Welch is to speak as part of the Central Connecticut State University Civil Rights Lecture Series.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s website says that it,

is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become members. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19^th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution.

As Associate Director for External Affairs, Morgan-Welch, according to CCSU, “She is responsible for directing the museum’s global strategic vision for development, public affairs, education and public programming, visitor services and special events.”

Before her work at the Smithsonian, Morgan-Welch was the Executive Director of the Museum of African American History in Boston and Nantucket since 1999, which said that she previously,

served in corporate philanthropy at Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company and Raytheon. As a development professional at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, she acquired an African American collection establishing the Amistad Center for Art and Culture housed at the art museum. She later served as the Executive Director of the Greater Hartford Arts Council.

The Lecture is to be held at 12:15pm in the Founders Hall room in CCSU Davidson Hall at 1615 Stanley Street.

The event is sponsored, in part, by the CCSU Civil Rights Project, the CCSU Office of Student Conduct and the CCSU Office of Institutional Advancement.