In honor of this observance, the Brentwood Library has invited master singer, storyteller and dancer Yolanda Rhodes to perform at the library on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. Yolanda will perform "Under the Nkula Tree," a blend of stories, music and dance that transports the audience through American history. This free, 45-minute event is intended for grades K-6 and will be held at the Brentwood Community Center, next-door to the library.
Black History Month originated as a single-day event organized by the prominent African-American fraternity Omega Phi and held annually on Feb. 12, Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Historian Carter G. Woodson learned of the event and proposed that it be extended to a full week.
Woodson's idea took shape in 1926, when Negro History Week was first observed, coinciding with the birthdays of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event gained popularity with each decade and in the 1970s the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History expanded Negro History Week to a full month, renaming it Black History Month.
The Brentwood Library is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, contact the library at 634-4101 or www.ccclib.org.
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