During Black History Month, many communities, including Upper Arlington and Grandview Heights, unite to recognize and celebrate Black culture and historical figures. Such figures have made advancements in a variety of fields – from cosmetology to agriculture – changing the trajectory of our nation and shaping it into what it is today.
As community spaces dedicated to learning, Upper Arlington Public Library (UAPL) and Grandview Heights Public Library (GHPL) will each host Black History Month events in 2025.
Douglass Day -- Frederick Douglass’ birthday celebration at UAPL
On Feb. 14, UAPL–Tremont, will celebrate Frederick Douglass’ chosen birthday by participating in the Library of Congress’ national transcribe-a-thon and birthday cake decorating contest.
Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland in 1818. Teaching himself how to read and write in secret, he later became a famed abolitionist and author.
“He was someone who wrote a lot, and there’s a lot of history that we’ve lost because African-American people were not necessarily educated,” Cas Chermer, a programmer at UAPL, says. “They weren’t able to necessarily write things down, or they may have spoken, but people didn’t consider it important enough to make any kind of record of that, and so he’s someone that we do have history from.”
This is the first time UAPL will join in on this annual live-streamed event.
“I want people to connect in a very personal way to the history, and I like the idea that this is something that’s happening around the country so that we’re not just connecting to the people in the room with us,” Chermer says.
The purpose of a transcribe-a-thon is to build the Library of Congress’ digital archives from historic, often handwritten, documents.
“There are a lot of other papers from other important figures in Black history that are just sort of sitting in the Library of Congress, waiting for someone to come and pull down that box from the archives and read it through, and this way, it puts it out there for the public,” Chermer says. “It gets a nice chunk of Black history now available and accessible to the public, where before it just wouldn’t have been.”
Michael Jordan & City of Upper Arlington
Michael Jordan & City of Upper Arlington
Michael Jordan & City of Upper Arlington
Michael Jordan & City of Upper Arlington
Black History Month Celebration at UAPL
For the littlest community members, UAPL will once again display the Periodic Table of Black History for the entire month in the library’s youth area.
The display is structured like a periodic table, with each element represented by a Black historical figure. Just as the periodic table is sectioned into groups, the 72 historical figures are grouped by what ‘made them famous’ (i.e. athletes, musicians, artists, etc.) honoring each person’s skills, accomplishments and character.
To engage children, the display has an interactive element in the form of matching and word search activity sheets that help the students learn more about and become familiar with Black historical figures.
“Patrons find the display unique, as this type of display is not found in other area libraries,” Naome Allison, public service associate at UAPL and curator of the table, says. “Adult patrons will take the time to share their knowledge with young ones about individuals on the display, while youth become excited when they recognize a person on the bulletin board.”
For Black History Month, UAPL, in collaboration with Upper Arlington’s Parks & Recreation Cultural Arts Division, will hold a Black History Month celebration on Feb. 15, showcasing performances from dancers, spoken-word poets and others.
“We’re looking forward to creating that space for people to meet new people and have new experiences in a way that they may not during their day-to-day lives, and think about things that they may not think about, and learn new things,” says Jodi Hatfield, City of Upper Arlington cultural arts manager.
At this year’s event, UAPL will host Lynette Ford, author of Affrilachian Tales: Folktales from the African-American Appalachian Tradition, to discuss her book and her family’s life in rural Appalachia, detailing the culture and moments of discrimination they experienced.
“We’re hoping that families will come to this event and then go home and have conversations with their kids about Black history,” Hatfield says. “Their experiences, maybe what they know about and what they don’t know about, just continuing those conversations in our community and continuing to allow our community to be more welcoming and inclusive.”
Michael Jordan
Nigerian-born artist, Said Oladejo-Lawal, who was awarded Best in Show at the 2024 Labor Day Arts Festival, will have his art on display all month at the library.
“Art is a wonderful avenue to open the door so that community members can start having those conversations about where we are today and how we can change for the future in our community,” Hatfield says.
For the kiddos, the library’s youth department will offer Black History Time Hop, an activity regarding historic Black liberation and civil rights movements that entails kids connecting dates scattered in the library’s youth section, to events during the different movements.
Author Talk with Mike Smith at GHPL
Grandview Heights Public Library will host their own event during Black History Month on Feb. 18.
Following Grandview Heights Public Library’s speaker event during Black History Month in 2024 that hosted Rita Fuller-Yates, author of Columbus Black History: Images From Our Past, Vol. II., the library will once again host a Black historical author – this year’s being Mike Smith, author of In with the In Crowd: Popular Jazz in 1960s Black America.
Smith works as the assistant director of marching and athletic bands at The Ohio State University and has served the role of multi-instrument musician, conductor and music educator for more than 40 years. During his talk, Smith will discuss the jazz music and culture of the 1960s and how the music connected Black folks together and fostered Black pride.
“We’re thrilled to have Mike Smith visit the library to talk about the power of jazz in the 1960s as we celebrate Black History Month,” Canaan Faulkner, public relations manager at GHPL says. “We’ll also be highlighting materials from our collections for all ages and offering take-home crafts for kids.”
While the library plans to celebrate Black history during the month of February, Faulkner says the library makes an effort to celebrate diversity year-round.
“Black history is awesome to highlight always, but we also think about, ‘Do we have that on our mind throughout the year?’” Faulkner says. “We want to showcase the diversity of our community, in Columbus, always.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
