20-02-2025
How to celebrate the Bay Area's Black history
San Francisco has numerous ways to keep celebrating Black heritage and culture during Black History Month through food, art and music.
The big picture: The African American community has played key roles building and shaping the Bay Area over the centuries. That legacy ranges from Harlem of the West and the 1960s student strikes to the work of abolitionist Mary Ellen Pleasant, who is often referred to as the " mother of civil rights in California."
Here are a few ways to honor that history in February and beyond:
🖼️ See an exhibit at the Museum of the African Diaspora or one of the city's Black-owned art galleries: Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery, Marlowe Gallery or Jenkins Johnson Gallery,
🛍️ Shop and eat at Black-owned businesses in the Fillmore.
📚 Check out the San Francisco Public Library's " More Than a Month" programming, which showcases Black history and culture with various events, film screenings, workshops and performances.
🎤 School Yard Rap is a musical that educates and enlightens about the Black experience and the African diaspora at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on March 1.
🥁 Attend the Black Joy Parade on Feb. 23 in Oakland to celebrate Black life in the Bay Area and support local businesses, artists, performers and more.
🎭 The Bayview Opera House, the oldest operating theater in the city, is hosting various events this month, including a podcast recording on Black love and generational wealth on Feb. 20, and a fashion show celebrating the style from the 70s and 80s.
🛒 Visit the Black Makers Market on Feb. 22nd from 10am- 2pm in Emeryville featuring a dozen vendors offering a variety of goods, including handcrafted art and jewelry, clothing, home decor and wellness products.
🍴 Dine at an African establishment in the Bay Area: Bissap Baobab in the Mission offers West African fare in a lively, music-filled setting; Club Waziema on Divisadero for Ethiopian cuisine; or Teranga on the Embarcadero for a hearty Senegalese meal, to name a few. Find more Black-owned restaurants here.
🕺🏿 The annual Black Choreographers Festival will be celebrating 20 years and showcasing two weekends of dance performances. Show begins at 7:30pm on the weekends of Feb. 22-23 and March 1-2 at the Dance Mission Theater.
