Dig Into Black History Month With These Two Lower Manhattan Events

Lower Manhattan is marking Black History Month in all sorts of ways, and at Westfield World Trade Center, you can dig deeper into the area’s complicated racial past with two upcoming events.

From February 14 through March 7, Westfield WTC has teamed up with Black Gotham Experience founder Kamau Ware to host the return of their digital exhibition, “Land of the Blacks.” In the 17th century, Lower Manhattan was home to the first Black community in what would eventually become the United States. Black Gotham’s exhibition will utilize digital screens at the Oculus to display graphics, maps and photography that illustrate the 28 different land grants earned by Black people in New Netherland between 1643 and 1663.

Paired with the exhibition on February 24,  Westfield WTC will host Black Gotham’s virtual talk “Fighting Dark,” which will focus on Manhattan and Brooklyn’s 19th-century racial history. That talk begins at 6 p.m.

photo: Kamau Ware