Above: Photo of Black Lives Matter Mural on East Green Street next to Underground Railroad Mural by a collection of local artists.  Photo by Jill Ruthauser

In honor of Black History month, included in this February’s Gallery Night on Friday Feb. 5th, are four featured local black artists that have been set up with galleries to display recent works giving a space for black voices and art.

• Terry Plater featured at Cat’s Pajamas (Dewitt Mall)
• Horton Daniel featured at Handwork Co-op
• Adrina Dietra virtual video
• Terrance Vann featured at Community School of Music and Arts.

GIAC will be presenting our annual Black History Month Community Talent show themed "A Party for Kamala” virtually on Feb. 26th at 6 pm. Stay tuned for details and links! At GIAC, Black History Month is every month.

Learn about Black history in Tompkins County, historic Black residents, and engage with curriculum and virtual exhibits on our Black History Month web page. Also tune in to our social media feeds for posts highlighting local Black history. Stop by our Exhibit Hall and learn about the phenomenal lives of women civil rights leaders in the "Sisters of Change" exhibit, and explore exhibits on the Webbs, Levi Spaulding, and other notable residents of Tompkins County in the Exhibit Hall
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We are honoring the theme of Black History Matters for Black History Month. We are featuring three books in particular: ABCs of Black History picture book by Rio Cortez; African American Poetry 250 Years of Struggle & Song; and Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African American 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain.

Local Artist Terry Plater in partnership with the DIA refitted digital kiosks in downtown with portrait paintings and line drawings of people of color along with the slogan Black Lives Matter on the side panels. View these art pieces on The Ithaca Commons.

Created by local artist Rob Licht. Bronze and stainless steel sculpture  inscribed with the quote ”we will not be satisfied untied justice rolls like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". Located on the Ithaca Commons, pictured here covered in flowers this past MLK Jr Day. Picture by Sarah Horbacewicz of WENY. Learn more about the current efforts towards racial equality locally in her special report below.

February 25 at 6pm you are invited to join a virtual event featuring Dr Carolyn Finney author of Black Faces, White Spaces. This event is sponsored by Fingerlakes Land Trust, USFWS, Cornell Botanic Gardens, Ithaca Childrens Garden and The Learning Farm.  This event is an opportunity to explore how we meet this moment in American history as it relates to green space, race, and the power to shape the places we live in our own image. 

Ten years after the original Underground Railroad mural displayed beneath the Aurora Street bridge on Green Street was painted, it is being revitalized by four local artists. Read about the stories of Justice Painted Into Ithaca Murals by By Grace Azaula — Contributing Writer for The Ithacan.

An intersectional, art-as-activism, anti-racism project by Show Up Stand Up Listen Community Organization.

Chapter 1: Deep Breath, Featuring Dr. Nia Nunn, this February.