The Missouri History Museum is celebrating Black History Month with a range of programs throughout February.
Cicely Hunter, Missouri Historical Society public historian of the African American History Initiative, said the museum highlights diversity year-round, but especially during Black History Month and Juneteenth.
We have a series of different events on Tuesdays and on Thursdays,” Hunter told KSDK.com.
“We’ll have the ‘#1 Civil Rights Exhibit and Beyond’. We’ll also have ‘Movement and Migration’. It is focusing on the early period, post-Civil War time frame.”
Hunter said the museum is “Really spotlighting the importance of Black history told from Black perspectives and narratives [so] we can build that equitable future.”
Hunter said financial support for the museum is vital, she wants the community to be curious and connected.
“It’s important for us to dig deep and have that knowledge base and share with our community in order to advance forward for that younger generation,” Hunter said.
When hired in 2021, Hunter called the Historical Society “second to none.”
“MHS’s wonderful exhibits, programs, and initiatives have been a personal favorite of mine since I arrived in the area in 2014.”
Hunter most recently served as served as the Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusion for Carthage College.
During her time as a Graduate Research Assistant at Saint Louis University, Hunter worked on a joint initiative with the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States and Saint Louis University titled, “The Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project.”
It included experiences of enslaved people whom the Jesuits owned, conducting extensive historical and genealogical research on enslaved people and their descendants.
The Missouri History Museum Black History Month
Feb. 2 — The Artists of the “#1 in Civil Rights” Exhibit and Beyond — More than 260,000 people came to recall personal memories and family legacies, explore, and engage in meaningful conversations during the 2017–2018 Missouri History Museum exhibit #1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis. To share St. Louis’s complex history in a visually compelling way, MHS commissioned local artists to create portraits and murals for #1 in Civil Rights, and on this special night these artists will talk about how they developed their work.
Feb. 11 — History Exploration Days – Movement and Migration: The Black Diaspora — St. Louis has been a starting point, rest stop, or homecoming for millions of travelers and migrants. From the Exodusters of the post–Civil War era to the Great Migration of the early 20th century to today, we’ll explore the history of Black Americans who have traveled to or through St. Louis.
Feb. 16 — An Evening with Bishop Deon Johnson. On June 13, 2020, Deon Kevin Johnson was ordained as the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. Although he is its eleventh bishop, he holds the distinction of being both the first Black and first openly gay leader of the diocese.
According to his biography, Johnson and his brother decided to move to the United States when Deon was 14 years old. They moved in with their father in New York City until their mother came to the United States two years after their arrival.
Upon arriving in the U.S., he had to adjust to the different cultures that he was introduced to. He quickly rose to the top of his class and was enrolled in AP and honor courses in high school. He credits his education in Barbados for his academic achievements in the U.S.
Johnson has joined other religious leaders as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state of Missouri. They are challenging Missouri’s abortion ban, contending that lawmakers “openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them.”
Feb. 24 — Victory at War and at Home: Civil Rights Activism in World War II. Dr. David Lucander, author of Winning the War for Democracy: The March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946 will discuss Black American activism during World War II with a focus on St. Louis.