Black History Month Events in Philadelphia
Here are some highlights to add to your calendar this February.
Celebrate Black History Month with tours, events and more. / We Still Here! mural, 22 Maplewood Mall, courtesy Mural Arts Philadelphia / mural by Jetsonorama, & Ursula Rucker; photograph by Steve Weinik
From tours to museum exhibits and beyond, there are loads of ways to celebrate and honor Black History Month in Philadelphia. Here, just a handful of the highlights you might explore.
Family Festival: Neighbors at Play at Philadelphia Art Museum
The Art Museum will host a pay-what-you-wish family festival, inspired by their current Noah Davis exhibit. The event includes hands-on art activities, storytelling, and performances.
February 1st, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Philadelphia Art Museum, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
First Sunday Family Day: Rap It Up! at the Barnes Foundation
The Barnes is also hosting a first Sunday pay-what-you-wish family day. This one, presented in collaboration with the African American Children’s Book Project, features authors Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Weatherford, whose newest children’s book, Rap It Up!, celebrates poetry, rap, and the power of creativity. The day includes a reading, performance, and interactive workshop. Pre-register online.
February 1st, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., the Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
XPN Welcomes: Black Excellence in Action
The Fallser Club kicks off Black History Month with a stacked bill. Veteran rapper Reef the Lost Cauze headlines the show, but get there in time to catch performances by young story slam artist Nigel Ousey along with spoken-word artists Empress L and Lady Boss, and to check out works by visual artists Nomad, Unapxlxgetic, and Tieshka K. Smith.
February 1st, 4-8 p.m., the Fallser Club, 3721 Midvale Avenue.
Black History Month at the Betsy Ross House
On weekends in February, the Betsy Ross House will have free programming featuring storytelling that highlights the contributions of Black Americans through history. On Saturdays, historic reenactors will share the experiences of Black colonial women in Philadelphia. Then, on Sundays, the Once Upon A Nation storytelling bench will feature storytellers sharing short, interactive tales of Black history.
Free, Saturdays and Sundays in February, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch Street.
Black History Month at the National Constitution Center
In addition to daily self-guided tours and activities, you can experience The Four Harriets of History, a show exploring the lives of Harriet Tubman, Harriet Robinson Scott, Harriet Jacobs, and Harriet Beecher Stowe — four women who fought to end slavery — during Black History Month. They’re also offering free admission on February 21st for Black History Family Fun Night.
Through February, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch Street.
The Original Black History Tour
This tour follows the footsteps of enslaved people, abolitionists, slaveholders, and founding fathers in Philadelphia.
Saturdays throughout the year.
Drunk Black History
Comedian Brandon Collins hosts “comedians, writers, and experts who are skunked out of their mind trying to recap the biography of a historical Black figure or event that hasn’t gotten the mainstream love they deserved.” Sounds like a wild night.
February 1st, 7 p.m., Punch Line Philly, 33 East Laurel Street.
Plantation Black
InterAct Theatre Company presents a bold new play by Phaedra Michelle Scott that collides past and present to explore inheritance, power, and justice. Two centuries after a Civil War-era plantation family’s murky agreement with the enslaved Prioleau family, descendants must confront the past and reckon with their legacy. With six actors portraying both historical and present-day characters, the story unfolds differently every night: Twenty minutes before each show, a cast member will spin a drum full of scenes to determine the play’s temporal starting point. So no two performances are the same — and audience members can return for a second viewing at a reduced rate.
February 6th-March 1st, InterAct Theatre Company at The Drake, 302 South Hicks Street.
Alvin Ailey’s Revelations at the Academy of Music / Photograph by Danica Paulos Photography
African American Children’s Book Fair
One of the oldest and largest single-day events for African American children’s books in the country, the afternoon includes visits and book-signings with authors and illustrators, games, giveaways, and the opportunity to purchase books — from preschool to young-adult lit.
Free admission, February 7th, 1-4 p.m., Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets.
Black History Celebration at Please Touch Museum
Learn through play as PTM celebrates Black History Month with hands-on workshops celebrating Black change-makers — from inventing to dancing to designing to drumming.
Included with museum admission, February 7th, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic.
Black History Month at the Free Library of Philadelphia
There will be free events at libraries throughout the city all month long, including storytimes, author talks, crafts, performances, and much more. Check out the schedule here.
Black Cinema Week
The Philadelphia Film Society presents “Shot Callers,” a week featuring “portraits of the Black-American experience captured by esteemed actors turned directors,” ranging from Keenen Ivory Wayans’s Blaxploitation satire I’m Gonna Git You Sucka to Denzel Washington’s film adaptation of August Wilson’s Fences. Many screenings include pre-show activities, too, so be sure to check out the schedule here.
February 20th-26th, Film Society East, 125 South 2nd Street.
Mural Arts’ Black History Month Civic Heroes Trolley Tour
This special 90-minute trolley tour features murals that represent Black historical figures, civic heroes, and social justice issues. View these murals, hear the stories behind them, and learn about their artists and the mural-making process along the way.
February 21st, 10 a.m., departs from PAFA, 128 North Broad Street.
AAMP Family Fun Day: Everyday Freedom Heroes
The African American Museum in Philadelphia hosts its third annual youth costume party for Black History Month. Kids age 13 and under are invited to dress as their favorite figure in Black History or historical fiction. AAMP is also calling for posters, inviting kids to illustrate how they embody the spirit of an “Everyday Freedom Hero” in their own lives. To sweeten the deal, there will be free admission to the museum, and cash prizes for the kids. (First prize is $500!)
February 22nd, 2-5 p.m., African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street.
A Century of Black History Commemoration
Renowned historian Dr. Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham presents “Black History in Times of Self-Evident Truths, Half-truths, and Untruths”, exploring a century of Black history commemorations. The afternoon also features a Black History Month proclamation reading, historical documents from the 1800s, a light reception, and intergenerational discussion. (And if that last name sounds familiar, check out Malcolm Burnley’s piece on Higginbotham’s late husband and civil rights leader A. Leon Higginbotham in our February issue.)
February 22nd, 2-5 p.m., Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
The legendary dance troupe returns to the Academy of Music with Revelations — a celebration of African American heritage set to spirituals, song-sermons, gospel and holy blues — as well as other dance pieces.
February 27th-March 1st, Academy of Music, 240 South Broad Street.
