At Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, we are proud to celebrate Black History.
By highlighting historical events, figures and employees and events within our organization throughout the month of February, we hope we can help capture what Black History Month means to us.
We also want to spotlight what our Kentucky communities are doing to celebrate Black History Month. Here’s a list of virtual and in-person celebrations as of February 10, 2022:
Louisville
$5-off February
In celebration of Black History Month, downtown Museum Row on Main is offering Kentucky residents the opportunity for $5 off adult admission prices or $5 off other offerings. Participants must show proof of residency in Kentucky while purchasing. Participants include:
- Muhammad Ali Center: The Ali Center will be offering $5 off regular adult admission, which includes access to its temporary exhibit Truth Be Told: The Policies that Impacted Black Lives. The last day the public will be able to see this exhibit is February 27. www.alicenter.com
- Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory: $5 off regular adult admission prices. The Best Black Baseball Team You’ve Never Heard Of tickets at no extra charge on Saturdays (11 a.m., 1 and 2 p.m.). www.sluggermuseum.com
- Frazier History Museum: $5 off regular adult admission prices. Black Americans in Bourbon at no extra charge on Saturdays. www.Fraziermuseum.org
- 21c Museum Hotel/Proof on Main: The galleries at 21c Museum Hotel Louisville are open 24/7 and always free to visit. $5 off a purchase of $25 or more at Proof on Main and in the 21c Louisville Museum Shop. www.21cmuseumhotels.com/louisville
- KMAC Museum: $5 off in the KMAC Shop with a purchase of $25 or more, or a $5 discount in the KMAC Café with a purchase of $10 or more. Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. kmacmuseum.org
- Kentucky Performing Arts: $5 off select seats at the following performances: Black Violin: The Impossible Tour (February 16, the Brown Theatre); Body Traffic (February 26, The Kentucky Center) and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (February 28, The Kentucky Center). KentuckyPerformingArts.org
Black History Film Festival: ‘Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten’
This documentary chronicles both the events of May 31-June 1, 1921, when hundreds of Black-owned businesses and homes in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were burned to the ground, killing an estimated 100-300 Black residents and leaving an estimated 10,000 homeless.
Where: Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch, 301 York St.
When: February 13, 1:30-4 p.m.
Tickets: Free lfpl.org
“The Spot” student art exhibit
“The Spot,” our Young Adult Opportunity Campus, is filled with talented young individuals searching for a second chance. One student will grace us with her Black History Month art, beginning February 14.
Where: The Spot, 800 W Chestnut Street
When: February 14-28
The Other African American: Blacks in Nicaragua & Cuba Fast Class
Dr. Thomas Edison will focus on Afro-Cuban and Afro-Nicaraguan artists, connecting them to the African Diaspora and global Black experience.
Where: Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch, 301 York St.
When: February 15, 6:30-8 p.m.
Tickets: Free lfpl.org
Let’s Talk | Bridging the Divide: Changemakers
Panelists: Sadiqa Reynolds, President and CEO of Louisville Urban League; Rev. Dr. Jamesetta Ferguson, President and CEO of MOLO Village; Andre Guess, President and CEO of Fund for the Arts; Adria Johnson, President and CEO of Metro United Way; Jean West, President of Rotary Club of Louisville. Moderator Rachel Platt.
Where: Frazier Museum, 829 W. Main St.
When: February 17, 6 p.m.
Tickets: Free fraziermuseum.org
Black History Month Trivia Challenge
Where: Louisville Free Public Library, Western Branch, 604 S. 10th St.
When: February 17, 5 p.m.
Tickets: Free lfpl.org
Black History Film Festival: ‘Green Book’
Set in 1962, this film is inspired by the true story of a tour of the Deep South by African American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley and Italian American Tony Lip, a tough-talking bouncer from the Bronx.
Where: Louisville Free Public Library, Main Branch, 601 York St.
When: Feb. 20, 1:30-4 p.m.
Tickets: Free lfpl.org
Black History Film Festival: Jackie Robinson story
In 1947, Jackie Robinson rewrote the future of pro baseball when he broke through the racial barrier to become the first African American Major League Baseball player.
Where: Louisville Free Public Library, Portland Branch, 3305 Northwestern Parkway
When: Feb. 24, 4:30-7 p.m.
Tickets: Free lfpl.org
Daughters of Greatness
Featuring Judge Denise G. Clayton, who became the first Black woman to serve on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and the first Black woman to be a Kentucky Circuit Court judge.
Where: Muhammad Ali Center, 144 N. Sixth St.
When: February 25, 8:30-10 a.m.
Tickets: Start at $30 alicenter.org
Black History Month celebration in our Goodwill stores
Join us at your local Goodwill as we celebrate Black History Month. Schedule of events vary by location.
Where: Your local Goodwill
When: February 25
Songbird of the South: The Real Mary Ann Fisher Story
Songbird of the South tells chronicles Mary Ann Fisher’s life from her tragic and traumatic childhood in Henderson, Kentucky to performing with Ray Charles Band.
Where: Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, 1701 W. Muhamad Ali Blvd.
When: February 25, 7 p.m.
Tickets: Start at $20 eventbrite.com
Black Recharge: The Great Reset
Celebrate and send off Black History Month with fellowship, food, entertainment and Black business highlights.
Where: Todd Hall, Kentucky Center, 501 W. Main St.
When: February 28, 6:30 p.m.
Tickets: Start at $25 eventbrite.com
The Sky’s the Limit Exhibit
A Celebration of the History of Black Achievement in Aviation
Where: Art-Deco Terminal, Bowman Field, 2815 Taylorsville Road
When: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10-3 p.m. Sundays through February
West of Ninth
Race, Reckoning and Reconciliation
This guided tour explores the 9th Street divide, and the issues race, redlining and segregation played a role in the city.
Where: Frazier Museum
When: Tours are offered daily
Lexington
The University of Kentucky has a month-long schedule of virtual and in-person campus-community events celebrating Black History. To view, visit this link.
Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning
Black History Month Celebration
Registration is now open for Celebrate Black History Month activity kits. Black History Month kits are available to Kentucky residents who register online through the Carnegie Center.
Each Monday in February, tune in to a series of videos that highlight local Black storytelling, music, cuisine and more. Videos will be available for all on its Kids & Teens YouTube playlist.
It will also be accepting submissions to our second-annual Young Black Voices contest, an art and writing contest for Black students in grades K-12 with prizes. For information on the contest and how to enter, please click here.
Bowling Green
Western Kentucky University has a month-long schedule of virtual and in-person campus-community events celebrating Black History. To view, visit this link.
Across the commonwealth
McCracken County Public Library
Virtual: Evenings Upstairs – Black History Month Event
Black History Month Event African American Lives and Landscapes on the Lower Tennessee River
This presentation delves into the diverse histories of several African American communities, both slave and free, in Western Kentucky along the lower Tennessee River. Among the topics to be discussed are mixed-race farming families with both slave and free members, the substantial labor force of the region’s Iron Industry both during and after slavery, the displacement of communities and the biographies of individuals and their families living in Western Kentucky throughout the 1800s and into the 1960s.
Where: McCracken County Public Library (555 Washington Street, Paducah, Kentucky 42003)
When: February 10, 2022, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Paducah School of Art and Design
Celebrating Black History Month | Opening Reception Regional Artists at the Paducah School of Art & Design
When: February 10, 2022, 5-6 p.m.
Phone: (270) 408-4278
Where: PADUCAH SCHOOL OF ART & DESIGN
905 Harrison Street
Paducah, KY 42001
Trigg County Historical Transportation Museum
Trigg County Black History
Black History displays will be open to the public for viewing beginning on the 19th of February from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Transportation Museum.
On that same day beginning at 4 p.m., the wonderfully talented Volunteer State Choir under the direction of Trigg County Native, Jeffrey Wilford, will perform.
Other days that the Black History displays will be available for viewing at the Museum are as follows:
February 20, 1-4 p.m.
February 26-28, 1-4 p.m.
Kentucky Gateway Museum Center
Black History Exhibit
Learn about African-American history in the Mason County area. Located on the border between the North and South, the history is full of stories of the Underground Railroad, slavery and more. The exhibit runs the entire month of February, and the museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: Kentucky Gateway Museum Center 215 Sutton Street, Maysville, Kentucky 41056
When: February 1-26
Kentucky Symphony Orchestra
“Rags to Riches” with the Newport Ragtime Band
A performance and slide show by the KSO’s Newport Ragtime Band surveys the roots of American musical heritage. The program features ragtime, blues, dixieland and early jazz from 1898-1933, with tunes by legendary black musicians/composers Scott Joplin, James Reese Europe, W.C. Handy, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller and others.
Where: Drees Homes Auditorium, St. Henry District High School
When: Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 10 a.m.
Leeds Center for the Arts
Black in Blue Documentary
Join us for a viewing of Black in Blue, a documentary telling the story of four African American football players at the University of Kentucky who broke the color line in the Southeastern Conference in the 1960s. Nate Northington, Greg Page, Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg endured racism and hardship, but ultimately, their courage and the bonds of team loyalty would ensure the success of integration at UK.
Where: Leeds Center for the Arts, Winchester
When: February 11, 7 p.m.