Black History Month, which takes place in February every year, is celebrated throughout the metro Atlanta area with festivals, storytelling, performances, lectures, film, and much more.
It’s nearly impossible to talk about black history in America at all without mentioning Atlanta. Our city has seen remarkable achievements from the civil rights leaders, musicians, athletes, politicians, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who’ve called Atlanta home.
We’ve put together a list of some of the special events taking place around metro Atlanta for Black History Month in 2024, as well as a few places that focus on African American history and culture all year round.
This post is structured with highlighted events and venues first, followed by a chronological list of Black History Month events in a calendar format. Be sure to scroll all the way to the end to browse all events.
Things to do during Black History Month
We’re still adding events and new ones will be at the top of the list, so be sure to check back!
♦ See a FREE planetarium presentation
The Fernbank Science Center is offering FREE admission to the 1:00 p.m. planetarium show on every Saturday in February. The presentation will share the untold stories of contributions made by African Americans to the NASA space program.
Dates are:
Feb. 3rd
Feb. 10th
Feb. 17th
Feb. 24th
More info
♦ Enjoy FREE art and performances by Black artists
In conjunction with its 4th annual Black History Month Celebration, the City of Hapeville will showcase original local artists’ work at the Hapeville Depot Museum and live performances and improv at the Academy Theatre. These events will be organized around the theme Multitudes: Celebrating the Depth, Breadth, and Diversity of the African American Experience, and will exhibit the work that explores various modes of expression.
Click thru the links for more info on these special events.
• The FREE art exhibit at the Hapeville Depot Museum is on view from Feb. 17th to March 9th. There will be an opening reception on Feb. 17th.
• The FREE live performances at the Academy Theatre take place on Saturday, Feb. 17th from 2 to 6 p.m. and you can reserve your spot via Eventbrite.
♦ Attend a FREE poetry reading
Sunday, Feb. 18th at 3 p.m.
As part of the annual Raymond Danowski Poetry Library Reading Series, Major Jackson—award-winning poet and host of the podcast The Slowdown—presents a free public reading. Jackson’s books will be for sale, with a signing immediately following the event. He is the author of six books of poetry. The event takes place at the Schwarz Performing Arts Center on the Emory University campus.
Register for free tickets
♦ View the “Ghosts of Segregation” exhibit for FREE
Now thru May 24, 20224
David J. Sencer CDC Museum
1600 Clifton Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
Photographer Rich Frishman explores the lingering presence of segregation, slavery and institutional racism hidden in everyday American architecture. The exhibit is open Monday thru Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. FREE admission.
More info
♦ See a FREE movie on the Atlantic Green
Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
The Color of Friendship (G)
Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Remember the Titans (PG)
Bring a blanket or chairs and settle in for a family movie. The events take place on the Atlantic Green at Atlantic Station, in midtown Atlanta.
More info
♦ View a NEW exhibit at the High Museum, opening in February
February 16th to May 12th, 2024
Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina
This new exhibit features 60 ceramic objects created by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina in the decades before the Civil War. Hear Me Now will also link the past to the present with work by leading contemporary Black artists who have responded to or whose practice connects with the Edgefield story.
Visit the exhibit web page
NOTE: The High Museum offers FREE admission to everyone on Second Sundays and Third Wednesdays, plus free admission to Bank of America cardholders through Museums On Us.
♦ See a free film at a Cobb County public library
The South Cobb Regional Library is screening a variety of African American films to celebrate the diversity of Black culture.
The film schedule includes:
** February 1st — The Last Dragon
** February 7th — Harriet
All movies are rated PG or PG 13.
Showtime is 11:00am to 1:30pm.
Popcorn and water will be provided.
South Cobb Regional Library is located at 805 Clay Rd, Mableton, GA 30126
More info
♦ Enjoy FREE activities at Dekalb Public Libraries
February 1st to 29th, 2024
Multiple locations
Select libraries in Dekalb County are hosting Black History Month events for all ages. The events include:
* Black History Month trivia
* Book discussions
* Take-and-make craft kits for a Black History Month poster or bookmarks
* Free screenings of the movies Hidden Figures and The Woman King
* West African dance performances
* Crafts: make a beaded bracelet or an African-print pillow
* Black History Month Scavenger Hunt
* Motown Music Review
Click HERE for a full schedule of these activities
♦ Head to the Black History Parade in Cartersville
Saturday, February 24, 2024
1:30 p.m.
Downtown Cartersville
The parade will feature floats, car clubs, marching bands, and more. The theme is African-Americans and the Arts.
The Booth Western Art Museum will offer FREE admission to parade participants.
There will also be a pop-up festival at Friendship Plaza, featuring local vendors and a deejay.
More info
♦ Dine on soul food at Paschal’s Restaurant
Paschal’s Restaurant was the unofficial headquarters of the Civil Rights Movement, and Martin Luther King was frequently seen there. Photo courtesy of Paschal’s.
Paschal’s Restaurant was a common meeting place for civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King. It has moved from its original location to a spot at 180 Northside Drive, but the walls are still lined with framed photos of influential leaders from the past.
You can read a timeline of Paschal’s history on its website.
This restaurant is famous for its fried chicken.
♦ Head to the Black Heritage Festival in Duluth
Saturday, February 10, 2024
1 to 4 p.m.
Shorty Howell Park (inside the activities building)
Shop with Black-owned businesses, and enjoy food and music that celebrates Black history and culture. Admission is FREE.
Shorty Howell Park is located at 2750 Pleasant Hill Road, in Duluth.
More info
♦ View Black History Month Murals in Brook Run Park
February 1 to 29, 2024
Brook Run Skate Park
4770 N. Peachtree Rd.
Dunwoody, GA 30338
Each year, the Art in the Park program brings a series of original murals to Brook Run Park. You can view the murals at the skate park, all month long. Plus, you can go the city website to see the murals online, view previous murals, and read artist bios.
♦ Attend the Roswell Roots Festival of Black History & Culture
February 1 – 28, 2024
Visit the website
During the month of February, the city of Roswell will feature a series of special exhibits, cultural performances, demonstrations, and events devoted to Black history and culture.
And just wow, there is so much to do! You really need to check the website and the calendar to see it all.
Many of the events are free, including library story hours, art exhibits, and musical performances. The ticketed events are very affordable.
You can download a complete calendar of events and brochure on Roswell’s city website.
♦ Experience “A Tribute to Black History in Dekalb” at the Dekalb History Center
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This is Dekalb History Center’s 16th annual Black History Month Celebration. Catered lunch included with ticket purchase ($45).
Get more info and buy tickets
♦ Support Black-owned businesses at the Atlanta Black Expo
Saturday, February 10, 2024
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Cobb Galleria Center
The expo will feature a wide range of Black-owned businesses in all industries. You’ll be able to walk around and shop, as well as enjoy workshops, speakers, a food court, a kids area, and more.
Buy advance tickets for $15
♦ Have fun at Blackout: Open Mic Night & Pop-up Market
Friday, February 16, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Lawrenceville Arts Center
125 North Clayton St.
Now in it’s third year, Blackout is a FREE celebration of culture, creativity, and commerce. The event features fantastic local performers and artists, Black-owned businesses, and free delicious food.
Get more info or sign up for an open mic slot
♦ Attend a Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church
Service on Sunday at 10 a.m.
Virtual service Sunday at noon
Each Sunday, visitors from around the neighborhood and around the globe attend services at Ebenezer Baptist Church. The church has an open-door policy and welcomes anyone who wishes to visit.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Counse, under a Creative Commons license.
♦ See a new show on the Hertz Stage at the Alliance Theatre
Jan. 31 — March 3, 2024
Woodruff Arts Center
This month, you can see the play Furlough’s Paradise, a poignant story about two women raised like sister but now leading very different lives. The play was written by Black playwright A.K. Payne, and her script won a national playwriting competition. It stars a Black cast.
♦ Participate in Gwinnett’s Black Heritage Night
Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Gwinnett Justice Center
75 Langley Dr., Lawrenceville
This cultural festival is FREE and open to the public — everyone is welcome. Black Heritage Night features cultural performances, soul food, exhibits, art, and more. Reserve a free ticket on Eventbrite
♦ Take a road trip to explore Civil Rights landmarks
The National Park Service has created a We Shall Overcome travel itinerary, listing places of historic significance in 19 states. The landmarks include churches, homes, protest sites, and and other landmarks related to the Civil Rights Movement.
Oddly enough, only 4 sites are listed for Georgia — but we have many more venues you can explore around Atlanta, in our list below. But since the idea is to take a road trip, you can head to nearby sites in Alabama, including Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma.
The website CivilRightsTrail.com also lets you explore significant sites by state, and is a better travel guide, in our opinion.
Places to visit & explore during Black History Month
♦ The APEX Museum
APEX is an acronym for African-American Panoramic Experience. The mission of the APEX Museum is to accurately interpret and present history from an African-American perspective.
♦ National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Exhibits connect the American civil rights movement to the current global human rights movement.
This February, the Center will host story times, activities, and giveaways on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month. All activities are included with a ticket purchase to The Center. If you are a family of 4, remember to take advantage of the Family 4-pack discount!
More info on Black History Month activities
♦ South-View Cemetery
Take a FREE self-guided walking or driving tour of South-View Cemetery, which was chartered after the Civil War by former slaves who were banned from white cemeteries. Martin Luther King was originally buried in South-View, before being moved to the grounds at the King Center.
♦ Oakland Cemetery’s African American Burial Grounds
Each year, Oakland offers FREE tours during Black History Month, but they fill up quickly– so if you’re reading this early, in January, RESERVE NOW.
If you can’t get a tour reservation, you can read about the African American Grounds online and then visit on your own. Oakland Cemetery is ALWAYS FREE. The best way to receive advance notice about when free tour reservations open up in January is to subscribe to our newsletter.
Ollivette Allison was executive director of the Carrie Steele-Pitts Home (the first orphanage for African-American children) from 1976 until 2009. It’s been estimated that she cared for more than 5,000 children at the orphanage.
♦ George Washington Carver Park (Cartersville)
This site on Allatoona Lake was established in 1950 as a Georgia State Park designated especially for Black people. It is now part of the Bartow County parks system.
On a warm day, you can walk along the water, or bring a picnic meal and use the pavilion or outdoor tables.
Read about the history of the park before you visit
♦ Atlanta History Center
A variety of special programming features the contributions of African Americans this February.
More info
Do you have a credit or debit card from Bank of America?
That gets you FREE admission to the History Center on Feb. 3rd and 4th, through the Museum on Us program.
♦ Hammonds House Museum of African-American Art
Open Thursday thru Sunday
Adult admission $10
Seniors $7
Students $5
Under age 12 FREE
The Hammonds House Museum, in Atlanta’s West End, is dedicated to fine art created by people of African descent.
♦ Atlanta University Center Historic District
The Atlanta University Center District comprises a group of the country’s most important institutions of higher learning for African Americans. This national historic landmark in Southwest Atlanta includes Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and Morehouse School of Medicine.
Many civil rights movement leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., attended these schools, which have been a progressive force among Atlanta’s black community.
If you’ve never made a visit to this historic district, maybe it’s time to explore this February!
Benjamin Mays was a former sharecropper’s son who made the monumental rise to president of Morehouse College, where he is laid to rest. He is credited with laying the intellectual foundations of the Civil Rights Movement. (Photo made available through the Creative Commons Universal Public Domain Dedication)
♦ Martin Luther King Historic Sites
The Birth Home of Martin Luther King, Jr. is closed for renovations, but you can go inside the Visitor Center. You can also stop by the tomb of Reverend and Mrs. King, with its eternal flame. And the MLK World Peace Rose Garden is open, although there’s not much in bloom right now. Here’s a complete list of MLK historic sites under the National Park Service.
Dr. and Mrs. King are laid to rest at the King Center’s outdoor campus. Photo: Atlanta on the Cheap
♦ National College Football Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame is highlighting the contributions of the Wyoming Black, a group of African American football players who stood up against injustice. There will be a free film screening followed by a panel discussion, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
More info
♦ The Herndon Home Museum
Completed in 1910, the Herndon Home was the residence of Alonzo Herndon, Atlanta’s first black millionaire. Herndon was a former slave who became a barber after the Civil War; he invested his income in real estate and later founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, located in Sweet Auburn.
The house is a two-story, 15-room mansion in the French Beaux-Arts style, located in Atlanta’s Vine City neighboorhood. For more information, see the Herndon Home Museum website.
NOTE that tours have been suspended, but you can view the outside of the building.
The Herndon Mansion was home to Atlanta’s first black millionaire. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia contributor Keizers, under a creative commons license.)
Movies to watch & speeches to listen to
Whether you want to be inspired or entertained, you can put together your own watch list for Black History Month.
Black stories and voices on film
Reelgood.com has a list of films and TV shoes that stream for FREE and showcase Black stories. The list includes titles like Bel-Air, Judas and the Black Messiah, If Beale Street Could Talk, Fruitvale Station, and Dear White People — plus more.
The major subscription-based streaming services also have curated collections of films that focus on Black history and stories, and feature Black actors and filmmakers.
Browse movies here:
♦ Netflix — Black Lives Matter collection
♦ Hulu — Black Stories collection
♦ Amazon Prime Video — Amplify Black Voices collection
♦ HBO — Celebrating Black Voices (these selections stream for FREE)
You may also be interested in our big list of FREE streaming services.
Notable speeches in Black history
These are worth a watch or a listen — especially the dramatic recreations of historic speeches.
♦ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Listen to the famous 17-minute I Have a Dream speech in its entirety, courtesy of NPR.
♦ President Barack Obama
He’s known as one of the greatest presidential orators in modern history, so it’s hard to choose just one. But for Black History Month, we’re going with A More Perfect Union, a 2008 campaign address about America’s long struggle with race (37 minutes). But go ahead and watch the 3-minute Amazing Grace clip from the eulogy for Rev. Pinckney too.
♦ Frederick Douglass
Listen to a trained voice actor read the words of the famous abolitionist, in the What to the Slave is the Fourth of July speech. It was delivered on July 5, 1852.
♦ Sojourner Truth
Watch a Black actress deliver the Ain’t I A Woman? speech that Sojourner Truth delivered in 1851, as a freed slave. In this talk, she compares experiences of Black women to white women.
Black History Month calendar of events
NOTE: We’re still adding BHM events for February, so check back!
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