As part of its new “Lunch with Books on The Road” initiative, the Ohio County Public Library will present a Black History Month program titled “The African American Experience in Wheeling” at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at West Virginia Independence Hall (WVIH) in Wheeling.
The program will be presented by Ron Scott, Jr., cultural diversity and community outreach director at YWCA Wheeling, based on the article “Wheeling’s 20th Man: Race Relations in the Northernmost Southern City.” Written by Seán Duffy, the article appeared in the Fall 2019 Wheeling 250 edition of Goldenseal magazine. Duffy created the multimedia presentation with supplemental research and design work by Erin Rothenbuehler, both local history specialists at the Ohio County Public Library. Rothenbuehler also is president of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation, while Duffy serves as vice president.
First performed last year at the library as part of the Wheeling 250 series for Black History Month, the program was repeated by request at Wheeling Park High School and Triadelphia Middle School for nearly five hundred local students.
Through photographs, video, music, art and readings of primary source material, the presentation tells the story of African American life in Wheeling from slavery through Civil War, emancipation, “Jim Crow” segregation, the “Great Migration,” desegregation, Civil Rights, urban renewal and contemporary life. The hour-long program will take place in the historic courtroom at WVIH. For more information, please call the library at (304) 232-0244 or West Virginia Independence Hall at (304) 238-1300.
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