Events taking place for Black History Month

Black History Month is being marked in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent Thursday with flag raising ceremonies at various locations.

Black History Month dates back to 1926 and takes place each February, dedicated to celebrating and honouring the many achievements of Black Canadians.

There will be a flag raising event outside the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre at noon with representatives from the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History, the Buxton National Historic Site & Museum, and the Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society & Black Mecca Museum.

The University of Windsor, along with the Black History Black Futures Working Group, will join Canada and the world in honouring Black History Month with a flag-raising ceremony at the centre of main campus also during the noon hour.

A reception will follow the event where attendees can learn more about Black History Month events on the UWindsor campus and in the community.“It's amazing to see,” said the new curator of the Buxton National Historic Site & Museum, Michelle Robbins.

Robbins recently took over curator duties from her aunt, Shannon Prince. They both said the number of visits to the museum and other historic Black sites in Chatham-Kent continue to climb.

“The amount of visitors we had last year, coming to the sites, learning about the sites, the schools that are coming. You know, we're doing a lot of rest and retirement home visits this year. So it's just amazing to see the full circle moment of people wanting to learn about Black history and about the history in Chatham-Kent,” Robbins said. “It's just fantastic to be able to see that happening.”

Prince added, “We're fortunate to have such three incredible sites that are still thriving that to tell those stories and because there are so many descendants that are living here to share those stories as well.”

“People who left their mark on history itself were here in Chatham-Kent, so, we're very proud of what we do have here and still in living history. This is a living history community.”

Steven Cook, the Curator of the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History near Dresden said it seems more people are seizing opportunities to learn about Black history in Chatham-Kent, hopeful it’s a continuing trend.

“We have equity diversity, inclusion and justice committees that are very active today,” Cook told CTV News. “Working just with the Lambton Kent District School Board in the last two weeks, we've seen 127 classrooms take part in our virtual tours at the Josiah Henson Museum.”

Cook continued, “So there's a great strong interest today and we're getting the stories out there so that when people grow up, like I did in this community, they're not going to be saying I didn't know about all the rich Black history here in Chatham-Kent.”

Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff said understanding history helps the community move forward.

“It's super important for us here in Chatham-Kent to celebrate the history, to understand the history and move forward.”

Canniff added, “We want to do a lot more and then we want to start recognizing more and more. I want everybody in Chatham-Kent to know our history and understand it and celebrate it.”