Celebrating Black History Month: How Delaware Humanities Highlights the Black Experience

February 27, 2026

By Rebecca Olsen, PhD and Ciera Fisher, MS

Each year in late fall, when we open our new Speakers catalog, we begin receiving requests for programs. While many of these programs come up soon on the calendar, many others are months away. What month in particular? February. Opening these requests, the message is always loud and clear: Organizations across Delaware are eager to celebrate Black History Month. And we are proud to celebrate with them. 

Popular Speaker programs this month included Kathy Trusty’s The Harlem Renaissance: A Revolution of Words, Art, and Activism, Eunice LaFate’s Folk Art & Culture, Kathy Doyle’s Allies for Justice: Delaware’s Role in Brown v. Board of Education, and Eric Mease’s Delaware’s Signers and Slavery: It’s Complicated. These talks were hosted by libraries, senior centers, churches, and community centers all throughout our state. 

Kathy Trusty is a longtime Speaker with Delaware Humanities. Her programs on Black history and culture are popular throughout the year, but always especially popular in February. This year, her Harlem Renaissance program is new in our catalog and is in high demand.  

The program “seems to resonate with audiences,” said Kathy. “I chose this topic because the Harlem Renaissance was a pivotal period in American history. I wanted to explore that period…how it evolved and [the] key individuals and events that sparked and shaped it.” 

Audiences seem to grab onto the topic and its works—many audience members had “some prior knowledge” about the period but also reflected in their feedback that the program “presented a lot of new information” for them. 

St. Martha’s Episcopal Church in Bethany Beach hosted Kathy’s program last week. John Short, who coordinator the program, told us it allowed their church to “share the richness of the contributions of African American artists of all varieties in our celebration of Black History Month.” 

“It was a perfect fit for our goals in promoting understanding, fostering empathy, and motivating audience members to learn and experience more about these artists,” said John. 

The Dover Public Library hosted Kathy’s Harlem Renaissance program earlier this month. “This program was part of our Citywide Black History Month Celebration,” shared Assistant Director Audrey Avery. It “brought in community members of different ages and backgrounds to learn about…[this] important time in American history.” 

Author Kathy Doyle’s Brown v. Board of Education program reached Delawareans who adopted our state downstate at the Selbyville Library. “None of the attendees were [originally] native to Delaware,” shared Kathy, “and all were very interested in learning more about Delaware history, and especially Delaware’s important role in this landmark Supreme Court case.” 

February closed with Neighborhood House’s culminating event for their humanities project: a student showcase celebrating the history of Black fashion, art, and dance, and the contributions of famous Black inventors and writers. 

Last year, Neighborhood House received a grant from Delaware Humanities to create a book club for students, in which those students learned not only through reading and discussion but also by visiting sites connected to their topics of study. On the evening of February 26, family, friends, and community members gathered to support the students as they showcased all they had learned over the year. “You Can’t Erase Us” was an evening of laughter, reflection, and celebration, and Delaware Humanities was proud to support these young scholars. We couldn’t have asked for a better bookend for Black History Month. 

On a sad note, as you may know, Delaware Humanities’ federal funding was abruptly terminated last year—forcing us to suspend our grantmaking entirely. Unless that funding is restored, this will be the last event funded by a Delaware Humanities grant for the foreseeable future. Projects such as “You Can’t Erase Us” show how crucial the humanities are in supporting our youth and creating a brighter future for us all. 

Check out our calendar for upcoming Speaker programs. 

Interested in hosting? Browse Speaker programs or request a Speaker program for your site.  

Interested in becoming a Delaware Humanities Speaker? We hold auditions annually. Applications for new Speakers will open in April.