C.W. Post Celebrates Black History Month
Exhibits and lecture examine the role of Africans in shaping America’s history

Brookville, N.Y. – Africans in 18th century New York City made up the second-largest group of enslaved people in colonial America second only to Charleston, S.C. As a major port, New York City played an instrumental role in slavery under both British and Dutch occupation. On Wednesday, February 27, 2008, Sherrill Wilson, Ph.D., an urban anthropologist and author of “New York City’s African Slave Owners,” will present Traveling the New York City African American Experience 1623-1830, a discussion of the people, places and events that document the role of the African people in 17th, 18th and 19th century New York City as part of the Black History Month observances at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

The lecture and slide presentation, which will be held in the Hutchins Gallery in the lower level of the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library on the C.W. Post Campus at 12:30 p.m., is free and open to the public. The presentation is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities Speaker in the Humanities Program.

As part of the month’s observance, a series of exhibits that explore diversity, multiculturalism and the long road from slavery to freedom will be on display in the main lobby of the B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library from February 11 through March 12. Respect for Diversity: Valuing Our Museums, Libraries and the Communities They Create, is a traveling exhibit on loan from the Upstate History Alliance. The Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism exhibit displays selected resources from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and materials from C.W. Post’s B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library collections including vintage movie posters. From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas includes materials from ASALH as well as the U.S. Library of Congress, and materials from B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library collections.

The B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library is located on the C.W. Post Campus at 720 Northern Boulevard (Route 25A) in Brookville.  For further information call Manju Prasad-Rao at (516) 299-2868.