Black History Month 2021

Whether you’re staying in or looking for in-person, socially distanced programs, there are so many ways to celebrate Black History Month in February 2021.
The Office of Arts and Culture offers a list events all over Dallas, from our cultural centers and our partners!

• Hair Story: Myths, Magic & Methods of Black Hair
  • African American Museum
  • Through February 13th
  • Hair Story seeks to explore how Black hair is more than mere follicles: it’s economic, political, and spiritual.  The exhibit is curated by and features work from Dallas-based visual artists and seeks to celebrate Black hair and its complicated roots.
• Moth to Cloth: Silk in Africa
  
  • Dallas Museum of Art
  • Through October 24th
  • Silk was traded between African peoples across the continent and was also imported from Europe, India, China, and the Middle East. This installation of cloths drawn from the DMA permanent collection explores the production of silk and silk textiles in Ghana, Nigeria, and Madagascar.
• Playing in the Dark: Burned but Not Consumed
  
  • South Dallas Cultural Center (BY APPOINTMENT ONLY)
  • Exhibition: Friday, February 22nd
  • SDCC is pleased to present the work of Talley Williams. A self-taught artist, Williams sculptural pieces are inspired by her dreams, visions, and premonitions. This exhibition is deeply conceptual, evoking both spirit and nature to encourage conversation and reflection. 

• The BLK Experience: A Black Lives Matter Instagramable Museum
  
  • Urban Arts Center
  • Through February 28th
  • Step into an interactive experience by touring eight spaces highlighting profound black experiences that will shine a light of the strengths and struggles of black lives throughout history. Individuals can revel in the creativity of the spaces and honor the history of black culture.
• Carroll Harris Simms National Black Art Exhibition
  
  • African American Museum
  • Through May 10th
  • This exhibition program was established in 1976 at the African American Museum. The program expands the Museum’s distinguished fine art collection and provides black artists a venue to display their work.
• Vicki Meek: 3 Decades of Social Commentary
  
  • African American Museum
  • Through March 1st
  • For 3 Decades Vicki Meek has created installations that critique, examine and comment on the African American experience in the United States, as well as her own reactions to social injustice, African American heroes and heroines and the African and African American aesthetic. Her work reflects the ideals developed during the Black Power Movement and the accompanying Black Arts Movement of the 1960s.

• Music Lounge Studio Sessions featuring Art inspired Healing Collective
  • South Dallas Cultural Center
  • Premieres February 5th
  • Join SDCC for a special BHM edition of Music Lounge featuring Art Inspired Healing Collective! Based in Dallas, AIH presents a unique experience of music and meditation.
• DBDT: Encore! Reminisce
  • Dallas Black Dance Theatre
  • February 6th | 7 PM
  • The historical work Reminisce reflects on the civil rights era through the music of Andra Day, Aretha Franklin, and Gladys Knight & the Pips with the empowering words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
• A Virtual Chat with Nancy Churnin and Felicia Marshall
  • Oak Cliff Cultural Center
  • February 10th | 12 PM
  • Celebrate the art of Laura Wheeler Waring by joining a chat about the book “Beautiful Shades of Brown: The Art of Laura Wheeler Waring”. Joining us will be author, Nancy Churnin, and illustrator, Felicia Marshall. Chat will be moderated by John Spriggins, manager of South Dallas Cultural Center.
• Duet #2 Performance by Beckles Dancing Company
  
  • South Dallas Cultural Center
  • Premieres February 13th
• Verse & Rhythm celebrating Laura Wheeler Waring
  • Oak Cliff Cultural Center
  • Deadline: February 19th
  • Artists, Pre-K – 5th grade, are invited to submit a poem with the prompt “Beautiful Shades of Brown”.
    Submit to: monica.luna@dallascityhall.com
    Final Judge: B. Randall
    Winners announced on February 26th
• Arts & Letters Live: Selected Shorts presents Toni Morrison Remembered
  • Dallas Museum of Art and KERA
  • February 20th | 7 PM
  • Selected Shorts returns to Arts & Letters Live with a tribute to Toni Morrison, whose fierce, poetic visions articulate deep truths about the nature of racial injustice in America. Hosted by award-winning author Yaa Gyasi.
• paintOWT with DPD and Tyra Goodley
  • Oak Cliff Cultural Center and DPD
  • February 27th | 11 AM (Registration opens February 18 at 7 PM )
  • Join middle and high school students can join OC3 for a creative time with DPD and artist Tyra Goodley! This virtual workshop will create an opportunity to share and create with DPD while honoring Black History Month.
• Virtual Studio: Black Love All-Encompassing
  • Dallas Museum of Art
  • Through February 27th
  • Virtual Studio: Black Love All-Encompassing focuses on the stories of Black people around the world in order to sit with what it means to think about Black love in a variety of ways.
• Virtual Gallery: Idet by Inyang Essien
  • Dallas Public Library
  • Idet translates to “hair” in Ibibio — a dialect spoken primarily in the Southeastern region of Nigeria.  This virtual gallery is of portraits of threaded hairstyles. Capitalizing on the flexibility and strength of Black hair, hair thread is used to manipulate the hair into unique styles.
• Lunch & Learn Talkback on Children and Racism
  • Dallas Children’s Theater
  • For families looking for meaningful ways to talk with children about race and racism, but are uncertain on where to begin, this recorded virtual event provides guidance and suggestions, as well as a reading list for further engagement. Created on the heels of the world premiere of a new virtual production entitled, A KIDS PLAY ABOUT RACISM,
  • This talkback was originally hosted on August 7th, but is available in its entirety as a resource for families at dct.org/akidsplay.