Watch CBS News

5 Ways To Celebrate Black History Month In The Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Black History Month kicks off in the Bay Area Monday. There is so much to see, and do, it would take more than the month of February to cover it all. Here is just a sampling:

VISIT:

Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, all month.

It is black history month everyday at MoAD in San Francisco, a museum that showcases the richness of the African Diaspora. This month check out the art of Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle, or sculpture by Alison Saar. On Thursday evenings, attend the 3-part lecture series on African Diaspora Photography with Professor Makeda Best, and discover the historic African-American 92nd Infantry when 'Inside Buffalo' screens on February 13.

Gordon Parks Higher Ground at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco, February 4 - April 2

Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks' "American Gothic, Washington, D.C." (1942). Credit for all images must say: Photograph by Gordon Parks, Copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation, Courtesy Jenkins Johnson Gallery.

Explore the works of Gordon Parks, the man considered to be the most important black photographer of the 20th century. The exhibit at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery surveys works spanning nearly half a century -- The Black Panthers, the favelas of Brazil, fashion models and stars.

TOUR:

Black Panther Legacy Tour, in Oakland, Saturday February 6, starting at the West Oakland Library (18th and Adeline streets) at 11 a.m.

Former Black Panther chief of staff David Hilliard conducts a four-hour bus tour of the Oakland-born Black Panther movement. Visit 18 sites, "from the boxy building where Newton and Bobby Seale drew up the party's Ten Point Program in 1966, to the sidewalk where Newton was killed by a drug dealer in 1989." Tickets available online. Space is limited (50 seats only!).

SEE:

Black History Month takes the stage in two award-winning plays, in San Francisco and Marin.

Satchmo at the Waldorf at the American Conservatory Theater, in San Francisco through Feb. 7

ACT's one-man show is a "collision of two jazz titans," Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, starring John Douglas Thomson. The San Francisco Chronicle hailed it as a "tour de force performance."

August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean at the Marin Theater Company, in Mill Valley through Feb. 14

MTC_Gem_Idehenre_Smith_Hall_Moore_LoRes
Black Mary (Omoze Idehenre), Aunt Ester (Margo Hall), and Eli (David Everett Moore) in anguish over their friend, Solly Two Kings (Juney Smith), being shot. (Photo credit: Kevin Berne)

The first in August Wilson's ten-play century cycle, Gem of the Ocean takes us back to 1904 Pittsburgh to the Hill District home of 285-year-old Aunt Esther. It stars Margo Hall, Omoze Idehenre, Patrick Kelly Jones, David Everett Moore, Namir Smallwood, Juney Smith and Tyee J. Tilghman.

READ:

Senator Cory Booker: United, at The Castro Theater, in San Francisco, February 19, at 7 p.m.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Historic Marriage Equality Case
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

An evening of "uplifting and insightful conversation" between Senator Cory Booker and California's Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom. Booker will talk about his first book, United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good. Tickets available online.

MORE:

For more Black History Month events and happenings around the Bay Area, go to TheRegistryBayArea.com, Northern California's online resource for African-American arts, business, entertainment and culture.


CBSSF.com writer, producer Jan Mabry is also executive producer and host of The Bronze Report. She lives in Northern California. Follow her on Twitter @janmabr.

 

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.