Black History Month: Knoxville events include exhibits, lectures and a fashion show

This month, Knoxville will celebrate Black History Month with opportunities to educate and highlight the accomplishments of African Americans, through a variety of events for everyone.

Observances throughout the month will include programs by authors and artists of works dealing with Black history, exhibits, forums, a fashion show and a chance to join a nationwide project to transcribe the works of 19th-century author, statesman and activist Frederick Douglass for his birthday.

Here are some of the local Black History Month events scheduled throughout February.

If you would like to see your Black History Month event featured on this list, email [email protected].

UT Downtown Gallery Exhibition and Lecture: Katrina Andry

Feb. 1-18 – The UT Downtown Gallery

The UT Downtown Gallery located at 106 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville.

The UT Downtown Gallery will present selections from two bodies of work by printmaker Katrina Andry: “The Promise of the Rainbow Never Came” and “Colonial Colorism Influences in the Black Community.” The collections consider the dehumanization enslaved African people endured during the Middle Passage, and explore ethnicity, social hierarchy, Black experiences and quality of life, and society’s perception of race relations and social standards, according to the gallery’s website.
Andry received a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking in 2010. She lives and has a studio in her hometown of New Orleans.
Andry will give a lecture 5:30-6:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Art and Architecture Building, McCarty Auditorium, Room 109.
This exhibition is co-sponsored by the School of Art Programming Committee and Africana Studies.

Black Issues Conference 2024

Feb. 3 – The University of Tennessee’s Multicultural Student Life and UTK Chapter of the NAACP

The 19th Annual Black Issues Conference, coordinated by Multicultural Student Life and the UTK Chapter of the NAACP, will be 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 3. The conference will offer a forum for research and discussion of issues affecting the African American community. The Black Issues Conference is free and features a keynote speaker and workshops.
The guest speaker this year is Wesley Hamilton, disability advocate and founder/CEO of the nonprofit Disabled But Not Really.
Register at studentlife.utk.edu.

‘Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts’ presentation by Crystal Wilkinson

Feb. 3 – East Tennessee History Center and Union Ave Books

Award-winning author, poet and professor Crystal Wilkinson will speak on her book “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts” 7-8 p.m. Feb. 3 at the East Tennessee History Center, sharing the stories behind recipes rooted in the past.
“‘Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts” brings to life a culinary and artistic inheritance that honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia,” the history center website says.

RWL Speaker Series: Black Maternal Health, Kimberly Harper

Feb. 12 – University of Tennessee

Join the University of Tennessee’s Rhetoric Writing and Linguistics division (in collaboration with Syracuse University) to explore Kimberly Harper’s “The Ethos of Black Mothers in America” 5-6:30 p.m. Feb. 12.
Harper’s book looks at the history and rhetoric of Black women’s maternal health care across multiple disciplines. She provides a candid and personal perspective of her pregnancy experiences as a Black mother in America while validating how Black mothers are worthy and deserve to be seen, the UT website says.
You can register in advance for this meeting and find out more information at calendar.utk.edu. The book talk will take place in the Lindsay Young Auditorium, Hodges Library.

Conversation with a Legend: Theotis Robinson Jr.

Feb. 13 – Pellissippi State Community College

The “Conversation with a Legend: Theotis Robinson Jr.” event at noon Feb. 13 will be streamed to all Pellissippi State Community College campuses as part of the college’s events honoring Black History Month.
A trailblazer and advocate for equality, Robinson has been moving the needle in matters of diversity, equity and inclusion for over 60 years. He remains an active DEI ambassador and is frequently called on to lead conversations, and to create forward-thinking DEI initiatives that intersect higher education, business development, politics, history and equality.

Frederick Douglass Day Celebration and Transcribe-a-Thon

Feb. 14 – University of Tennessee Knoxville

This undated file image shows African-American social reformer, abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass. Douglass was the country's most famous black man of the Civil War era, a conscience of the abolitionist movement and beyond and a popular choice for summing up American ideals, failings and challenges. His withering 1852 oration in Rochester, New York, ranks high in the canon of American oratory and is still widely cited as a corrective to the day’s celebratory spirit.

Join the University of Tennessee to honor the 19th-century author, statesman and activist Frederick Douglass by celebrating his birthday and transcribing digitized historical records at UTK’s 7th annual Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon. Although Douglass never knew his birthdate, he chose to celebrate every year on Feb. 14.
The transcribe-a-thon will bring together thousands of participants at more than 100 simultaneous events around the world to help to transcribe a collection of papers left by Douglass that have been digitized and made available through collaborations with the Library of Congress and the ByThePeople platform.
UTK’s Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon will be noon-3 p.m. at the Frieson Black Cultural Center. The transcribing will be done on crowd.loc.gov, a citizen science platform led by the the Library of Congress. Douglass Day invites people from all backgrounds to join in this effort to make Douglass’s correspondence more widely accessible and searchable.

Midnight Muse Fashion Show: Unveiling Black Vogue in Creative Couture

Feb. 16 – The University of Tennessee’s Office of Multicultural Student Life

The Office of Multicultural Student Life – in collaboration with the UTK Chapter of the NAACP, POSE and BAE – will present a world of glamour celebrating the artistry of Black fashion at the Midnight Muse fashion show 7-8 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Alumni Memorial Building, Cox Auditorium.

African American Read-in

Feb. 21 – Pellissippi State Community College

Join the Pellissippi State Community College Libraries to celebrate the Annual African American Read-In to commemorate Black History Month 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 21.
For about 400 minutes, participants on both campuses will read aloud a variety of African American authors, including Phyllis Wheatley, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., Toi Derricotte, Gwendolyn Brooks and Booker T. Washington.

Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture presents Carolyn Finney

Feb. 29 – The University of Tennessee

The Wilma Dykeman Stokely Memorial Lecture will be 7-8.30 p.m. Feb. 29 at the East Tennessee History Center. The presentation is is annual event hosted by UT Libraries and the Friends of the Knox County Public Library.
Speaker Carolyn Finney, author of “Black Faces, White Spaces,” will talk about bridging the fields of environmental history and racial violence.

Beck Cultural Exchange Center’s Black History Month Celebration

Charles Edgar Blair, left, and Theotis Robinson, Jr., both 18, register for classes at the University of Tennessee with William G. Smyth, assistant dean of admissions, on Jan. 3, 1961. Blair and Robinson, along with Willie Mae Gillespie, 41, were the first Black undergraduate students at UT.

February – Beck Cultural Exchange Center

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center presents a weekly Black history and culture e-newsletter. Each Friday, the free e-newsletter contains a list of Black history facts, as well as feature stories, all year long. To sign up for the e-newsletter and to learn more about Beck Cultural Exchange Center events, visit beckcenter.net.
Beck is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1975 as a result of Knoxville’s Urban Renewal projects. The storehouse of African American history and culture, Beck is designated by the state as a primary repository of Black history and culture in East Tennessee.

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