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North Carolina Museum of History kicks off Black History Month with free cultural celebrations

The North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh is presenting several events this week to kick off Black History Month. 

On Friday the museum will host a free virtual series of presentations in interactive sessions beginning at 9 a.m. Events will include storytelling, an exploration of the Civil Rights Trail map, and commentary on the civil rights contributions of the Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray and freedom seeker Harriet Jacobs of Edenton.

The museum will be closed to the public for the day.

On Saturday, the 23rd annual African American Cultural Celebration continues in person, with this year’s theme focusing on the state’s Black artistic legacy.

The day kicks off with a procession featuring a marching band drumline, United States Colored Troops reenactors, and dancers from regional schools and academies. In addition to food tasting and artisan events, there will be commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the founding of hip-hop, and the 100th birthday of drummer Max Roach.

A complete rundown of the weekend’s events can be found at the North Carolina Museum of History website.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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