The 2016 Savannah Black Heritage Festival will pay homage to three African-American historical museums in Savannah that were founded by W.W. Law – The King-Tisdell Cottage, the Beach Institute and the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum. Each museum will host numerous art exhibits and lectures during the month-long festival, Feb. 1-21, 2016. This year’s festival theme is Reflections of a Proud Legacy.

Savannah native and photographer Andrew Feiler photographed the empty halls of Morris Brown College, an HBCU in Atlanta that filed for bankruptcy in 2012. His show, "Without Regard to Sex, Race or Color: The Past, Present and Future of One Historically Black College,” will open Sunday, January 31, 3 – 5 p.m., at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, 460 MLK, Jr., Blvd.

The opening of the 15th annual New Beginnings youth art exhibit begins with a reception Wednesday, February 3, 6:30 p.m. at Gallery S.P.A.C.E., 9 West Henry St. The reception is sponsored by the Savannah chapter of The Links, Inc. The exhibit will be viewable until February 29.

Sonja Griffin Evans, Jery Bennett-Taylor, Muneer McAdams-Mahmoud, Natalie Daise, Amiri Farris, and Sabree will exhibit works in a show entitled “Art with Gullah-Geechee Influence” at the Beach Institute African-American Cultural Center, 502 East Harris St., on Sunday, February 7, 3 – 5 p.m. The museum also continues its celebration of 20 years owning the Ulysses Davis Collection.   

Numerous lectures seek to illustrate various aspects of African-American heritage. Amy Potter, Ph.D., will speak on “Misrepresentations of Haiti in the American Media” at Armstrong State University’s Ogeechee Theater on Tuesday, February 2, noon.

Otis S. Johnson, Ph.D., scholar-in-residence at Savannah State University, will examine the cause and impact of the largest slave sale in U. S. history, which took place in Savannah, Ga., in 1859. Presented in part by The Telfair Museums,  ‘The Weeping Time” lecture will be held at the Jepson Center for the Arts, 207 W. York St., on Thursday, February 11, at 6:30 p.m.

Johnson will again speak on “The Weeping Time” and lead a panel in the Torian auditorium of the Jordan Building on the campus of Savannah State University on Tuesday, February 16, at 11 a.m. On February 20, 11 a.m., guests are invited to gather at Augusta Avenue and Dunn Street for a historical marker gathering and commemoration of “The Weeping Time.”

On Thursday, February 18, 11 a.m., Tiya Miles, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of Afro-American and African studies at the University of Michigan, will speak about her book Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom.  A book signing will follow. The lecture is sponsored by the Ossabaw Island Foundation and presented in part by the SSU Center for Leadership Lecture Series. It will be held in the Asa H. Gordon Library on the campus of Savannah State University.