As Huntsville recognizes Black History Month in February, one of the city’s most appealing aspects is its diversity in culture and storied history as seen through the eyes of art and music; shared by way of food and entertainment, and remembered by way of historic landmarks and famous places.
This month, take the time to visit the award-winning black watercolorist Dean Mitchell’s exhibit Encounters: Dean Mitchell at the Huntsville Museum of Art, on display through March 20.
The master watercolorist’s early career as an illustrator for Hallmark Cards took on “an emotional depth” when he began portraying black identity in the realist tradition, drawing his portraits, landscapes and still lifes primarily from African American culture.
Follow up that experience with a mixture of art and history at the newly renovated Memorial Plaza in North Huntsville where a great deal of Huntsville’s African American culture is on display at the HC Blake Art & History Center off North Memorial Parkway.
Visitors can take a historical journey through Huntsville’s colorful past with local historian William Hampton by way of his Huntsville Revisited collection. According to Huntsville City blogger Zenovia Stephens, his tales come to life as they are told in a bygone setting of reclaimed wood, old tractor parts and a variety of period items said to be more than 100 years old.
Surrounded by many impressive artistic pieces in the center’s art gallery, one of its most notable pieces is a painting by local artist Carole Foret of the late great singer, jazz pianist, and actor, Nat King Cole. The likeness is breathtaking.
And throughout Huntsville, Black History Month is a great time to tour the street art of Huntsville native and Alabama A&M alum Jahni Moore.
After leaving Huntsville, Moore traveled the world, returning home and forming an artist-led revival in some of Huntsville’s roughest communities. His vibrant murals speak to the importance of black culture in Huntsville.
Called “living history” by Zenovia Stephens, his work can be found at Campus 805, the Morrison Building and Carver Complex at Alabama A&M; and the now-closed Garden Cove Produce.
While touring the city, you may want to make a stop at The Lowry House.
Slave owner-turned abolitionist John Tate Lowry built one of Huntsville’s most famous homes, and not just because it is said to be haunted, but because it had a secret room and stairs that didn’t squeak. The Lowry House became part of the Underground Railroad and is today, one of Huntsville’s favorite tourist spots, open daily from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Sunday School teacher Denise Swain, civil rights historian Leon Burnette and tour guide Calvin Havens from SceneThat Tours are conducting several educational walking and driving tours for people to explore Huntsville’s civil rights history.
Take a two-mile, 45-minute walking tour from the Medical District to the Church Street Corridor, making five stops along the way marking the sites of 10 significant places and events from the decades-long civil rights movement, including the first integrated public school and the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once spoke.
Swain is offering free discussions every Saturday in February from 3:00 until 4:00 p.m. providing an in-depth look at Huntsville’s civil rights history. The schedule includes the Monroe and Church Street tour on February 12; the Monroe and Washington Street tour February 19; and the St. Clair Avenue tour February 26. All three will feature a guest speaker.
They are also including a civil rights landmark tour, a three-hour Rocket City Shuttles excursion to more than 10 historically significant civil rights locations across the city.
On February 16 at 11:00 a.m., Drake State Community & Technical College presents a Drake State Black History Month Program in the Cafetorium; and on February 25, Dr. Robert Ballard, the father of environmental justice will speak at “Black History is American History” from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. at Alabama A&M University’s Department of Community & Regional Planning.
Go back and revisit the African American families involved in the Women’s Suffrage movement by attending a formal presentation by Historic Huntsville Foundation director Donna Castellano on February 16 at the Hidden Figures No Longer: Six Black Women Who Made History by exercising their right to vote in 1920. That presentation will take place at the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors building on Monroe Street.
You may want to continue to the historic Glenwood Cemetery located between Holmes and Clinton Avenues. There, you will find the graves of many slaves as well as emancipated people including well-known Huntsville business and civic leaders like Henry C. Binford who was an educator and grand master of the Colored Masons; and Charles King Binford, founder of the first black funeral home. The Binford’s were family members of Mary Binford, one of the six women from the Hidden Figures event.
Another tour stop will take you to the current location of the Huntsville Spine and Neuro Center where a historical marker recognizes Sonnie Hereford IV, son of one of Huntsville Hospitals’ first black doctors, as the first African American student to enroll in a public school.
On the musical front, in conjunction with Valentine’s Day, R&B Vibes Live presents The Black Love Box at the Electric Belle at Stovehouse on February 13. It is called a “Night of Love” combined with dinner, live entertainment and giveaways.
Soul singer Jonathan Blanchard leads an interactive concert and storytelling experience called “History to Hip Hop” on Friday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. in Athens State University’s McCandless Hall. The show chronicles the evolution of African American music from the work song to hip hop.
The show is also featured as part of the “Athens Forever” Bicentennial Series and is free and open to the public.
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