Museum & Science Center > Programs & Events
Black History Month
The RMSC celebrates Black History Month! We honor black history and highlight scientists, as well as local and historical activists.
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Programs and Events
The RMSC is hosting programming, activities, and events every weekend in February to celebrate Black History Month. Take a look at what’s coming up each weekend with the menu below:
Activities marked with a * will have ASL interpretation available.
Saturday, February 4 & Sunday, FEbruary 5
Weekend 1:
Celebrating Freedom Seekers & Abolitionists
Weekend ACTIVITIES
Saturday, February 4
- Exhibit Tours (12-1pm): Join a guided tour of our exhibit Flight to Freedom: Rochester’s Underground Railroad and experience hands-on activities.
- Frederick Douglass Speeches (1:00pm)*: Join Frederick Douglass re-enactor for a themed storytime, including some of his most famous speeches. (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Harriet Tubman & Storytime (11am-1pm)*: Join re-enactors at storytime to learn about freedom seekers & abolitionists! (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Underground Railroad Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Abolitionist button making (11am-3pm): Make and take your own buttons home with inspiration from famous abolitionist quotes.
- Underground Railroad Screenings (11am-3pm): Learn about the Underground Railroad with a playlist of documentaries and historical clips.
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
Sunday, February 5
- Exhibit Tours (12-1pm)*: Join a guided tour of our exhibit Flight to Freedom: Rochester’s Underground Railroad and experience hands-on activities. (ASL interpretation provided by NTID)
- Underground Railroad Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Harriet Tubman, the Naturalist (11am-3pm): Play a hands-on game to discover how Harriet Tubman developed the skills of a naturalist to discover plants, food, and medicine that were available from the environment to Freedom Seekers!
- Exhibit Tours (11am-3pm): Join a guided tour of our exhibit Flight to Freedom: Rochester’s Underground Railroad and experience hands-on activities.
- Underground Railroad Screenings (11am-3pm): Learn about the Underground Railroad with a playlist of documentaries and historical clips.
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures.
Tickets
Saturday, February 11 & Sunday, FEbruary 12
Weekend 2:
Rochester’s Champions of Civil Rights
Weekend ACTIVITIES
Saturday, February 11
- Crafting Resistance (10am-noon): Make and take patches with editor, writer, and maker Hinda Mandell of RIT to explore how craft has been used as a tool to fight against injustice. (Suggested audience: pre-teens through adults)
- Coles Collection Conversation (noon-1:30)*: Hear from Joan Coles Howard as she shares her father’s groundbreaking journey to create a unified community for all citizens. She will be joined by Stephanie Ball and Jim Blount from About Time Magazine. (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Civil Rights Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Coles Collection Listening Station (11am-3pm): Listen to broadcasts from Howard W. Coles’ radio show in Rochester.
- Documentary Screenings: Catch screenings of documentaries that share stories related to Rochester’s own history.
- “Independent Lens: July ’64”: 11-noon, 1-2pm
- “Clarissa Uprooted”: noon-12:30pm, 2:30-3pm
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
Sunday, February 12
- Civil Rights Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Traveling with the Green Book (11am-3pm): Explore the history, locations, and significance of the Green Book Motorist Guide. Use a map to pinpoint different routes and locations from this essential book.
- Virtual Reality (11am-3pm): Experience a 30 minute VR simulation, Traveling While Black. This experience is available for visitor 14 and older.
- Documentary Screenings: Catch screenings of “Independent Lens: July ’64” and “Clarissa Uprooted”, stories related to Rochester’s own history.
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
Tickets
Saturday, February 18 & Sunday, FEbruary 19
Weekend 3:
Black Excellence in ARts & Culture
Weekend ACTIVITIES
Saturday, February 18
- Quilting Workshop (10am-noon): Create quilt patches inspired by African American quilting techniques while learning about the life and work of changemaker Alice Mathis.
- Poetry Workshop (10am-noon)*: Local author and poet Grequan Carter will conduct a workshop about the importance of the written word in the struggle for black liberation & racial equality. (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Black Excellence Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about people who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Documentary Screening (11am & 1pm): Join us for screenings of “Signing Black in America” to learn about a unique dialect of ASL developed in segregated African American Deaf communities.
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
Sunday, February 19
- Xallat Bu Bes: A Sankofa Celebration! with Almeta Whitis (2-4pm): Translated to “An Idea Which is New: Return and Fetch It,” this will be an interactive arts and cultural learning experience. Witness songs, wise sayings, dance, and poetry gathered from the African Diaspora’s rich history.
- Poetry Reading with Grequan Carter (2-4pm)*: (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
Tickets
Saturday, February 25 & Sunday, FEbruary 26
Weekend 4:
Black Excellence in STEM
Weekend ACTIVITIES
Saturday, February 25
- STEM Legends of Rochester (1-2pm)*: Join Joan Coles Howard & Stephanie Ball to learn about black innovators from Kodak, Xerox, Bausch and Lomb, General Motors, and other local legends who impacted STEM fields in Rochester. (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Black Inventors (2-4pm): Engage in hands-on learning about black inventions and engineers. Learn about Marie Van Brittan Brown, inventor of the home security system by creating an alarm rug!
- Black Excellence in STEM (11am-3pm): Learn about important figures in the worlds of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math with this listening station.
- Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
Sunday, February 26
- Hidden Figures (2-4pm)*: Learn about black women in STEM with hands-on space-themed activities. (ASL interpretation provided by NTID Student Interpreting Program)
- Coloring Station (11am-3pm): Take a break to sit at the Black History Month coloring station and learn about important historical figures from this week’s theme.
- Storytime (11am, noon, 1pm, 2pm): Cozy up for story hour and listen to stories about activists and trailblazers who changed the world! (20-30 minutes each)
- Documentary Screenings (11am-3pm): Learn from short videos about the important work of black scientists and inventors.
