February 9, 2023

Celebrate Black History Month with African American Read-Ins and More!

Houston Public Library (HPL) customers and community members are invited to participate in African American Read-Ins, taking place this February at HPL locations across Houston. African American Read-Ins are part of a national effort to encourage communities to read together, focusing on African American authors and books. To find an African American Read-In near you, please check our online events page.

The African American History Research Center (AAHRC) at the Gregory School is hosting several programs throughout the month, including a February 15 author event with Carole Boston Weatherford, author of Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre. Other AAHRC events reflecting the national 2023 Black History Month theme of Black Resistance include the virtual An Evening with Dawud Anyabwile, February 9 at 7:30 PM, “We Keep Homes and Fires”: Winnie Madikizela Mandela and Coretta Scott King on February 16 at 6:30 PM, Right to Rest on February 23 at 6:30 PM and Eating in the Meantime: A Talk about Food, Trauma, and Sustainability on February 28 at 6 PM.

The AAHRC and HPL Central Library are hosting the Citywide African American Artists Exhibition, a biennial collaboration between the Museum at Texas Southern University at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston to showcase local artists of the African Diaspora. The exhibition opens February 11 and runs through May 4, 2023.

Other upcoming events include Divine Nine: History in the Making, an overview and celebration of historically African American fraternities and sororities on February 18 at 10 AM at Central Library, African American Family Research: a Conversation with Debra Blacklock-Sloan hosted by the Family History Research Center at the Clayton Library Campus on February 24 at 2 PM, and ComicTalks: Black Representation in Comics, a virtual event being livestreamed on HPL’s Facebook page at 11 AM on February 25.

All events are free and open to the public. Please register online.

For more information about HPL, visit www.houstonlibrary.org, call 832-393-1313, follow us on Twitter or Facebook @houstonlibrary or on Instagram @houstonpubliclibrary.