February is Black History Month!

Join us throughout February as we celebrate Black History Month and the achievements of African Americans. In this post, we kick off the observance by highlighting African American artists, New York City and, recommend local events where you can celebrate the accomplishments of African American artists.

This year’s Black History Month theme is “African Americans and the Arts.” And few places are as well suited to celebrate this theme as New York City. While the City may not have birthed all the talented artists associated with it, it has given them a home. Since the earlier part of the 19th century, African Americans have had a significant presence in New York City. Early Black communities were created after the state’s final abolition of slavery in 1827. The metropolis quickly became home to one of the most sizable populations of emancipated African Americans.

From 1816, when William Henry Brown opened the first resident all-Black theater company in America, through the Bronx Block parties of DJ Kool Herc of the 1970s, where Hip Hop was born, New York City has been an incubator of artistic expression for African Americans.

Only New York City could have hosted the Harlem Renaissance and its artists like Jacob Lawrence and Augusta Savage, writers like Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, and musicians like Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. This led the way for people like photographer Gordon Parks, painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, and rappers such as the Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z. Drawn from their ancestors’ ancient rites of passage and the shared hopes of liberty, Black artists continue fusing creative expressions’ rhythmic cadence with the pulsating beats of progress.

Broadway Stages urges you to look deep into the people who have led the way through their work, while appreciating those leading the way into the future with their crafts. Looking for a way to celebrate Black History Month? Why not explore the life and work of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes at the New York City Public Library’s exhibit “The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artists in the Making” at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. 

Later this month (Feb. 25) at the Met, “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism “will feature 160 works of paintings, sculptures, photography, film, and ephemera exploring how Black artists portrayed everyday modern life in the new Black cities that took shape in the 1920s–40s.

And visit the Brooklyn Children’s Museum to look forward with “The Black Future Festival” from Feb. 18 to 25. This weeklong celebration of the African Diaspora and Black History Month will feature workshops, dance performances, storytelling, and more.

All our lives are richer for African Americans' contributions to the arts and society. Broadway Stages is proud that its studios have been home to talented Black American performers and we look forward to hosting many more. Whatever you do to recognize and celebrate Black History Month this year, give thanks to those who have gone before, who have led the way, and to those still to come on this journey into the arts!