Five ways you can celebrate Black History Month virtually

“Understanding the African American lens on American history demonstrates the resilience of the African American community,” Deirdre Cross, NMAAHC’s director of public programs, told CNN.

“People have struggled for their place in this democracy. It shows how there are historic issues of contemporary importance. Our generation is able to pick up its part in making this really a more perfect union for American communities at large.”

The museum’s signature event features acclaimed authors Ibram X. Kendi, who wrote the bestseller “How to be an Antiracist,” and Keisha Blain, author of “Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom.”

The authors teamed up for their latest work, “Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019.”

They will present their book in a museum-sponsored discussion titled “Historically speaking: 400 Souls—A Conversation with Ibram Kendi and Keisha N. Blain.”

The conversation will trace US history through the perspective of African Americans. It will follow their 400-year journey in the United States, highlighting historical time frames including slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation and the fight for civil rights, Cross said.

It will also cover African American culture and its vast influence on American music and art.

Later this month, the museum will also hold a virtual event that discusses the economic impact of Covid-19 and the history of public health for African Americans.

For those attempting to understand their genealogy and uncover the lives of enslaved ancestors, NMAAHC is also offering tips and best practices to help African Americans navigate court and probate records in search of relatives who lived prior to the Civil War.

Cross said NMAAHC has enlisted the…