Historic Philadelphia Center celebrates Black History Month

The Historic Philadelphia Center salutes Black History Month on Saturday and Sunday with family activities and the Liberty 360 Show featuring an appearance by a civil-rights leader from the past.

In the center's lobby, in honor of African American artist Moses Williams, kids can participate in silhouette craft activities, cutting paper profiles to make portraits as Williams did centuries ago before the invention of photography.

Attendees can experience interactive storytelling focused on the contributions of African Americans to our nation. An actor portraying Octavius Catto, an African American educator, intellectual, and civil-rights activist of the 19th century in Philadelphia, will discuss civil rights and sacrifices. In the Peco Theater, the 15-minute Liberty 360 Show will be featured every 20 minutes.

Asian images in comics

The exhibit will show powerful imagery including some items that reflect turbulent occurrences in our nation's history, spanning more than four decades. Taken from the collection of science-fiction author and cultural-studies scholar William F. Wu, the display selects powerful images and organizes them into categories such as the Alien, Kamikaze, and the Lotus Blossom, placing them into a historical perspective. The exhibit will have life-size cutouts that allow visitors to put themselves inside the images. There will also be a library of present day Asian Americans who are graphic novel artists.