FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mike Mackin
412-454-6459
mkmackin@hswp.org
History Center Honors Black History Month
Exhibits and Events Celebrate Our Region’s African American History
Jan. 25, 2008, PITTSBURGH – In honor of Black History Month, the Senator John Heinz History Center celebrates local African Americans and their wide-ranging contributions to business, sports, art and culture throughout the past 250 years.
As a Smithsonian affiliate museum with six floors of exhibits, the History Center is the ideal outing for families to celebrate Pittsburgh’s proud African American heritage.
The museum’s African American collection includes cultural artifacts, manuscripts and information about local African American organizations, businesses and institutions.
Recent additions include the handwritten documents of more than 50 African American slaves from Allegheny County that help to shed new light on the African American experience in the early 1800s.
Visitors to the History Center will experience a wide range of exhibits related to African American history, including:
o The Underground Railroad: A Journey to Freedom examines the institutionalization and economy of slavery, the rise of abolitionist activism, and the roots of the Underground Railroad. The exhibit shows the significance of Western Pennsylvania’s geographic location for freedom-seekers, enslaved Africans, and anti-slavery activists during the Underground Railroad and Civil War eras.
o The Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the History Center features a specially dedicated exhibit celebrating the history of the Negro Leagues in Pittsburgh, including artifacts from the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Homestead Grays, and Greenlee Field in the Hill District, as well as Negro League legends Josh Gibson and Satchell Paige.
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The Sports Museum’s Negro League Theatre features “Something to Cheer About: The Negro Leagues in...