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The landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v Board of Education set the stage for the desegregation of American public schools. Inspired by the MSV exhibition Contributions: African Americans in the Shenandoah Valley, this presentation will feature individuals who lived through school integration in this region, sharing their experiences and integration’s impact.
Featured speakers include Tom Dixon, Betty Kilby Fisher Baldwin, Marquetta Mitchell, and Gwen Tolliver Nickens. The discussion will be moderated by Candace Davenport, MSV Board member and vice president and IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Engagement, Action) officer for First Bank.
Pay what you can ($2–$10). Register by February 3; visit www.theMSV.org or call 540-662-1473, ext. 240. Admission applies to visit the galleries. Walk-ins welcome as space permits.
The Youth Development Center celebrates Black History Month with two incredible movies about true heroes in American history.
February 8th – the film SELMA (PG-13) at 5:00pm featuring a talk back will be led by Judy Humbert after the movie.
February 15th – the film HARRIET (PG-13) at 5:00pm featuring a Q&A led by LaTasha Do’zia
Tickets are FREE. Concessions are available.
Celebrate Black History Month with gospels, spirituals, and protest songs from the American Civil Rights Movement performed by Shenandoah University’s Harambee Gospel Choir and interpreted by Dr. James Coates.
Harambee Gospel Choir is a group of talented students, faculty and staff brought together by a love of gospel music. We strive to enlighten the spiritual growth amongst students as well as encourage diversity because all are welcome. Harambee is a family and we try to create a fun and creative atmosphere through song.
Dr. James Coates, Jr. is a retired college professor. He completed his graduate degrees at the University of Maryland College Park. His work focuses on teaching, cultural studies and sport, leisure and recreation in the African American Community. Coates has lectures, consulted, presented, and published articles and essays on sport, education, and African American history.
Free. Registration requested by February 8; register online or call 540-662-1473, ext. 240. Walk-ins welcome as space permits. Snow Date: February 23.
Learn about the life of Abraham Spencer (about 1806–1873), a free potter of color working in a southern slave economy in the Shenandoah Valley. Son of two enslaved workers emancipated in the early 1800s, Spencer worked with some of the Valley’s most noted potters. Presented by independent scholar and potter Brenda Hornsby Heindl.
Registration required by January 30; register online or call 540-662-1473, ext. 240. Admission fee applies to visit galleries.
Brenda Hornsby Heindl is an independent scholar. She is a graduate of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and an alumna of Berea College in Kentucky. Her prior work includes head of the Ceramics Department at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Auctions, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and the Ceramics and Glass Department at Colonial Williamsburg. In June of 2018 Brenda received a grant from the American Ceramic Circle to research Abraham Spencer and another free potter of color from Georgia, Lucius Jordan. She also lectures and presents workshops on historic ceramics, kilns, and pottery production. As a production potter, she built a wood-firing, salt-glaze kiln in 2012, and uses her studio, Liberty Stoneware, as an outlet for historic ceramics research.