Black History Month: Centennial Reflection events will begin at Gateway Community College on February 4 from 2:00 p.m. to 3: 30 p.m. with a panel discussion featuring Elizabeth Normen, publisher of Connecticut Explored Magazine, Elisabeth Petry, writer and daughter of famed Connecticut writer, Ann Petry, and William Frank Mitchell, Assistant Director and curator of The Amistad Center for Art and Culture. Connecticut Explored is the magazine of Connecticut history. The Amistad Center for Art & Culture in Hartford owns and showcases a vital collection of nearly 7,000 objects that document the history and culture of people of African descent in America.
 
The discussion, which takes place in GCC’s Library & Learning Commons multipurpose room (S217) will revolve around the 2014 book, African American Connecticut Explored, an anthology of more than 50 essays that presents an overview of the African American experience in Connecticut. The essays by many of the state’s leading historians document an array of subjects—beginning from the earliest years of the state’s colonization and continuing will into the twentieth century. The panel will touch on myths and legacies of 300 years of the struggle for full rights as citizens in this state.
 
Copies of African American Connecticut Explored are available for check-out at the Gateway Community College Library, and there will be copies on sale for those who wish to purchase on Feb. 4. Complimentary copies of Connecticut Explored will also be available.
 
Future Black History Month events at Gateway include a Student Poetry Performance in mid-February and a February 25 panel discussion with Superior Court Judge E. Curtissa Cofield on Black Lives Matter. 
 
This event and is free and open to the public, and is made possible by generous support from the Esther Haseltine Schiavone Cultural Fund, which was established in 2006 by her daughter, Jennifer, in her mother’s memory to support arts and cultural programming at Gateway Community College. To reserve a seat, or for more information, contact Dr. Clara Ogbaa, Director of Library Services at Gateway Community College at (203) 285-2058 or Renee Gaines, Humanities Dept. at (203) 285-2156.