February is National Black History Month and the Lebanon Heritage Commission would like to share some related regional and national opportunities to learn more about past and current topics related to Black history.
For starters, present style guides in journalism have capitalized references to people of African American descent and those of broader Black descent for reasons that are not explained here but which are worth looking up. Related factors include accuracy, cultural identity, shared culture and history, and standardization in terms of similar ethnic references.
So, on that note, to learn more about Black history, celebrate both shared and unique histories, and understand the nuances of related events, lives, and stories, here are some great resources:
- Thanks to Lebanon Libraries for posting about Black History Month media in their last newsletter, with a link to Hoopla e-books, from which you can borrow 5 items a month.
- Dartmouth College’s Program in African and African American Studies is a frequent host to events open to the public, including book discussions, ethnomusicology presentations, roundtables, and storytelling.
- Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park in Cornish just shared this National Park Service page celebrating Black History Month. The site includes an educator’s portal, information on places of importance, short films, and dozens of other engaging resources.
- WMUR has been showcasing Black History Month throughout February, particularly with features about prominent Black figures in NH’s history.
- Valley News covered an interesting story last year about slave history in our region, “Search for slave graves in Lyme cemetery identifies multiple sites”.
- The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire continues to build an impressive cadre of knowledge about people and sites in NH and their website highlights some fascinating recent interviews with subject matter experts.
- To tune into an NHPR The Exchange audio show about the Black Heritage Trail and other regional resources, check out “Past Lives, Present Learnings: Preserving Black History Through Grave Sites"
- And finally, as the State of New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Program (LCHIP) recently concluded in their newsletter feature, “A better understanding of the lives of earlier Black residents may allow us to follow the advice of the Sankofa, an African symbol associated with the African Burying Ground: Learn from the past.” The image that LCHIP shared is also shown here and is part of an installation in the African Burying Ground Memorial Park in Portsmouth, NH.