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Discover African American Scientists at the Children’s Museum

Children's Museum of Virginia 221 High Street, Portsmouth, VA

Discover African American scientists and their significant contributions during the month of February. Their profiles will be featured throughout the 2nd floor and experiments related to their work will be highlighted in S.T.E.M. Studio each weekend.

Caribbean Dreaming

Portsmouth Public Library - Main Branch 601 Court Street, Portsmouth, VA

Portsmouth Public Library and Black History Now presents Caribbean Dreaming, an opportunity to explore Caribbean Steel Drums through a historical and musical demonstration.  Learn how drums were outlawed on many Caribbean islands and how they came to be made from steel.  A unique sound and art form was created by politics.  Learn how the people […]

An Architecture of Democracy in a Landscape of Slavery

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center Annex 420 High Street, Portsmouth, VA

The Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center along with Black History Now is proud to present University of Virginia Professor Dr. Louis P. Nelson to discuss The Architecture of Democracy in a Landscape of Slavery: An Illustrated Presentation.  The University of Virginia is closely associated with Thomas Jefferson and is an architectural testament to the enlightened visions […]

Tuskegee Airmen: The First Top Guns

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center Annex 420 High Street, Portsmouth, VA

The Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center and Black History Now present the Tuskegee Airmen: The First Top Guns.  In May of 1949, the  U.S. Military was still segregated.  The U.S. Air Force held the first Gunnery Meet in Las Vegas, NV, where five "fighter groups" sent their best pilots and crews to compete, including the all […]

Urban Slavery and the Construction of Drydock #1 at the Gosport Shipyard

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center Annex 420 High Street, Portsmouth, VA

The Portsmouth History Museums and Black History Now present Dr. Linda Upham-Bornstein's presentation Engineer Loammi Baldwin, Urban Slavery, and the Construction of Dry Dock #1 at Gosport Shipyard.  When Dry Dock 1 at today's Norfolk Naval Shipyard was built in the 1830s, the labor necessary to complete it included enslaved stonecutters who were paid for their […]

African American History Expo

Portsmouth Public Library - Main Branch 601 Court Street, Portsmouth, VA

The Portsmouth Public Library, Main Branch and Black History Now present an African American History Expo.  Celebrate African American history and music featuring handcrafted items, music from Porte Towne Magic, and speaker Jack Gary, Director of Archaeology for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.  Mr. Gary will discuss the excavations at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg.  The church […]

Java & Djembes: African Percussion Workshop featuring coffees and chocolates from the African continent

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center Annex 420 High Street, Portsmouth, VA

The Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center and Black History Now 2022 presents Java & Djembes, an African percussion workshop featuring coffees and chocolates from the African continent.  Participants enjoy coffees and fine chocolates from Africa while learning percussion rhythms from master musician Kamiruri Kelly of the Day Program.  Price is $10 per person.  Ages 17 […]

$10

Recurring

Soul Finger Project

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center 400 High Street, Portsmouth, Virginia

This 4-person art exhibition features paintings and drawings influenced by contemporary Black Culture that traces its roots to the Caribbean, Northern Africa and beyond. Featured artists are Anthony Burks, Sr., from Florida; Portsmouth native and now Florida resident Ramel Jasir; Arthur Rogers, Jr., from Charlotte, North Carolina; and Clayton Singleton, from Norfolk, Virginia.

Recurring

Hanging Tree Guitars

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center 400 High Street, Portsmouth, Virginia

Hanging Tree Guitars is a traveling exhibition that showcases the work of Freeman Vines, a luthier, musician and material artist. Mr. Vines was born in Greene County, North Carolina, where his family sharecropped on plantations where they were once enslaved. For 50 years, he’s been building guitars from cast-off materials gathered from across the county […]

31st Annual Umoja Festival

Festival Park at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion 16 Crawford Circle, Portsmouth, Virginia

The 2023 Umoja Festival will be held May 26-28, 2023, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity. Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids' activities, international foods and so […]

31st Annual Umoja Festival

Festival Park at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion 16 Crawford Circle, Portsmouth, Virginia

The 2023 Umoja Festival will be held May 26-28, 2023, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity. Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids' activities, international foods and so […]

31st Annual Umoja Festival

Festival Park at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion 16 Crawford Circle, Portsmouth, Virginia

The 2023 Umoja Festival will be held May 26-28, 2023, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity. Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids' activities, international foods and so […]