Don’t miss it!

“Tracing Our Roots: New Rochelle’s Black History,” is a powerful exhibit now on display through Wednesday, March 4 at the Lumen Winter Gallery, New Rochelle Public Library. Presented by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts, the exhibit builds on the Council’s 1984 show, “300 Years: Blacks and New Rochelle.”

“It is our hope that the exhibit will not only foster dialogue, it will also prompt further research and discoveries. Every family has a valuable history to preserve and cherish. Collectively, these stories constitute a community’s history,” the show’s curators write.

The exhibit traces, in part, New Rochelle’s history of taking land, homes, businesses, and schools that disempowered and fragmented New Rochelle’s legacy Black community. What’s missing from the presenters is what effects these municipal actions have had on Black people and what is currently taking place in New Rochelle to further erode the power of the Black community.

“Late, Great African Americans of New Rochelle, Individuals with National Prominence” is part of the exhibit and includes portraits and brief biographies of a number of important residents.