Black History Month 2023: Events

Thursday February 2, 2023

6:30pm – 8:00pm

Place: Stevens Center on the Common (North Andover Historical Society),

800 Massachusetts Ave.

Free – Advanced Reservations Recommended

Kick off African American History Month with an inspiring program of music, spoken word and history. Celebrate the accomplishments of 8 African American history makers that lived in Massachusetts and that are featured on Black History Month banners around the North Andover Common in February. Be inspired by Andover's Ralph Bledsoe's interpretation of the famous "I Have a Dream Speech" by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Be uplifted by the music of the Merrimack Valley's Choral Majority under the direction of Eric and Robin Allison Lindahl.

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Please register in advance via Eventbrite. Parking is available on Academy Rd; please reserve spots in front of the building for the elderly and disabled. For more information send an email to NA.BHM.Events@gmail.com

Thursday February 2, 2023

1:00 pm

Place: North Andover Senior Center, 120 R Main Street

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom draws inspiration from the life of Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, the pioneering blues singer widely known as “The Mother of the Blues.”

Register by calling the Senior Center at 978-688-9560

Sunday February 5, 2023

3:00 pm

Place: Stevens Center on the Common (North Andover Historical Society),

800 Massachusetts Ave.

Free – Advanced Reservations Recommended

Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Professor Emeritus of History, Colby College and Associate Pastor, Union Baptist Church, Cambridge will speak on "African American Women and Social Change - Stages of Liberation" as part of the North Andover Celebrates Black History Month 2023 Program series. Her lecture will also focus on poet Phillis Wheatley and social activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin. Dr. Gilkes is the author of the book , If It Wasn't for the Women: Black Women's Experience and Womanist Culture in Church and Community, and will bring copies of the book for sale and to sign.

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Please register in advance via Eventbrite. Parking is available on Academy Rd; please reserve spots in front of the building for the elderly and disabled. For more information send an email to NA.BHM.Events@gmail.com

Thursday February 9, 2023

1:00 pm

Place: North Andover Senior Center, 120 R Main Street

In this presentation, media historian and professor Donna Halper will look at the history of the Black press, and discuss some pioneering Black sportswriters, political reporters, investigative journalists, and opinion columnists.

Register by calling the Senior Center at 978-688-9560.

Wednesday February 15, 2023

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Place: Stevens Center on the Common (North Andover Historical Society), 800 Massachusetts Ave.

Free – Advanced Reservations Recommended

Sponsored by the Stevens Memorial Library and Friends of Stevens Memorial Library

Dr. Kerri Greenidge will speak on her new book The Grimkes - A Legacy of Slavery in an American Family as part of the North Andover Celebrates Black History Month 2023 Program series. The Grimkes, is a stunning counternarrative of the legendary abolitionist Grimke sisters that finally reclaims the forgotten Black members of their family. The New York Times Book Review listed it on their 100 Notable Books of 2022, Publisher's Weekly named it one of the 10 Best Books of 2022, and the Boston Globe, NPR, Oprah Daily and Smithsonian called it one of the best books of 2022.

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Please register in advance via Eventbrite. Parking is available on Academy Rd; please reserve spots in front of the building for the elderly and disabled. For more information send an email to NA.BHM.Events@gmail.com