Black History Month events

Here are South Florida events commemorating February's Black History Month
Feb. 1: Movie in the Park: Screening of 'Wakanda Forever,' a tribute to the legacy of the Black Panther franchise. Free popcorn available while supplies last. Refreshments sold on-site. Bring a blanket and enjoy; 6 P.M., Altos Del Mar Park, 241 77th St., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 1: Art & Soul: Celebrate the 12th anniversary of the social and fundraising event supporting the Fund for Black Art with an evening of art, cocktails, music and dancing under the stars; 6 p.m.-midnight; Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; tickets start at $200. www.pamm.org.
Feb. 1: An Evening with Dr. Marvin Dunn: Explore the history and legacy of the Rosewood Massacre of 1923 through an insightful lecture and exhibit; 5:30-6:30 p.m., Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables. Free. tinyurl.com/4r2snk9z.
Feb. 1: Stories of Resistance from Black Miami's Sip of History: Panel discussion focuses on the enduring struggle, resilience and resistance of Black communities in Miami in response to racial injustice. Features Miami-Dade County Commissioner Marleine Bastien; historian Lonnie Lawrence, and Dr. Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida State Conference NAACP, sharing their stories of the significant contributions of Black Miamians to social justice movements; 2-4 p.m., HistoryMiami Museum, South Building, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami. $5 members, $15 non-members. www.historymiami.org.
Feb. 5: Jazz Men: An Evening of Music and Conversation with author Larry Tyre and special performance by Young Musicians Unite Jazz Ensemble; 7:30-9 p.m., Miami Beach JCC, 4221 Pine Tree Dr., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 5: Awkward Dinner: Exploring Caribbean Legacy and Identity: Through food and guided dialogue, participants explore topics relevant to MOCA's exhibition by Andrea Chung and themes specific to the South Florida environment. Limited-capacity event; 6-9 p.m., MOCA Paradise Courtyard, 770 NE 125th St., North Miami. $55-$91. tinyurl.com/5n7r4y5t.
Feb. 7: Black History Night Celebration: The Black Affairs Advisory Committee presents the 2025 Community Award to Olympian Twanisha 'TeeTee' Terry. Also features cultural performances by after-school participants, music, rides, food and crafts; 6-9 p.m., North Shore Park Youth Center, 501 72nd St., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 7: Kilombo: Exhibition of large-scale documentary photographs, a tribute to the resilience and vitality of the African legacy in Brazil, represents the work of Maria Daniel Balcazar, a prize-winning documentary photographer and visual anthropologist; 7:15 p.m., Lummus Park, The Betsy South Beach, 1433 Collins Ave., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 8: Soul Vegan & Seafood Festival: The ninth annual event celebrates Black History Month through the lens of food, drink, health, sustainability and fun on the sands of Miami Beach; 1-6:30 p.m., Lummus Park, Ocean Drive between Sixth and Seventh streets. Free.
Feb. 13: 'Never Drop the Ball:' Screening of the documentary that chronicles the remarkable journey of Black baseball players who helped transform the sport from a segregated pastime into a global phenomenon. A panel discussion follows with Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields, baseball historian Abel Sanchez. Moderated by Tom Hudson of WLRN News; 6:30 p.m., SoundScape Park, 1670 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 16: Dranoff 2 Piano Fusion: Presenting West African Beats: One Song, a musical journey through the African diaspora curated by violinist/vocalist Nicole Yarling; 4 p.m., Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach. $37-$53. tinyurl.com/bd2nzh5p.
Feb. 18: Heritage Fest: Performances by local artists, sample delicious food from various vendors and jam to beats pumping onto the dance floor; 3 p.m., Adrienne Arsht Center, Thomson Plaza for the Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Free. 305-949-6722.
Feb. 19: Time and Place: Multitudes of Black Experience in Miami: Panel discussion delves into the history and cultural significance of Black Miami, inspired by the work of artist Kabuya Pamela Bowens-Saffo; 6:30-8 p.m., Miami-Dade College's Padrón Campus, 627 SW 27th Ave., Room 201, Miami. Free. 305-237-7700.
Feb. 20: Hued Songs: Building belonging, empathy and community for all, Hued Songs weaves and performs a tapestry of song and spoken word by an all-women cast, centering on female resistance, freedom and liberation of self; 6-9 p.m., The Bass Museum, 2100 Collins Ave., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 20: Shattered Structures: Looking Back 15 Years to the Earthquake in Haiti: The exhibition focuses on Haiti's architectural legacy and its fragility as documented in photographs of buildings taken following the 2010 earthquake; 6- 8 p.m., FIU-Miami Beach Urban Studios, 420 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 22: Cuban Folk Dance Traditions - Exploring African Roots: Learn dance steps used in various music genres of Cuba such as Rumba, Salsa and Afro-Cuban folk, while exploring their African roots and cultural significance, with Marisol Blanco, master dancer and artist-in-residence; 2 p.m., HistoryMiami Museum, South Building, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami. Free. historymiami.org/event/demonstration-cuban-dance-panorama/.
Feb. 27: Botanical Garden Groove: A night of music, art and culture, featuring live sets from PAPERWATER, DJ Duality, Pressure Point and DJ Dluxe, showcasing an eclectic mix of footwork, Baltimore house, jungle and juke. Also includes creative activities; 6-10 p.m., Miami Beach Botanical Garden, 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach. Free.
Feb. 27: Portraits of the Blues: Celebrate the legacy of blues music through live performances and engaging stories that highlight its cultural significance; 12:40-1:55 p.m., Miami-Dade College West Campus, 3800 NW 115th Ave., Doral. Free.
March 2: Melton Mustafa Jazz Festival: The 28th annual festival features a tribute to bassist and composer Jaco Pastorius; Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater, 819 NW Second Ave., Miami. $20-$230. www.mmjf28.eventbrite.com.

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Spiking confrontation in the Middle East is leading some spectators to contemplate the end of the world. In one chapter of his new book 'In Crisis, On Crisis,' writer and Wilfrid Laurier University professor explores the apocalypse's cultural appeal. We go to end-of-the-world fiction for two obvious reasons. First, we want distraction. Explosions onscreen can block out explosions in our lives. I'd rather worry about storms in the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' than the tasks I said I'd finish before actual tomorrow. Second, perhaps incongruously, we want to feel hopeful. In Octavia Butler's 'Parable of the Sower,' civilization is collapsing, yet Lauren Olamina never wavers from her commitment to survival and rebirth. At the end of Waubgeshig Rice's 'Moon of the Crusted Snow,' the Anishinaabe community leaves its apocalypse-ravaged reservation for a new beginning in the woods. 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Cell signals, the internet and cable television stop working shortly after the family lands in the countryside. Probably, they think, their remote vacation spot is beyond reach of satellite networks. That night, though, when the owners of the house, the Washingtons , a kind, elderly Black couple, show up and ask to stay, Clay and Amanda learn that the loss of service is widespread. Drama unfolds on two tracks. There is tension between the families. Clay and Amanda are suspicious of the Washingtons , which has as much to do with the white couple's latent racism as with the unexpected appearance of the homeowners. Who has the right to call the shots: the white renters or the Black deed-holders? At what point does valid speculation about the crisis slide into harmful paranoia? On a second narrative track, the world is ending. The reader understands this early in the book more clearly than the characters ever do. There's plenty of evidence on Long Island that something is wrong. The blackout, communication breakdown, a deafening noise overhead, terrified neighbours, flamingos in the pool. A few days after the vacation begins, Archie's teeth fall out. The families know there is trouble, they are in trouble, but they never understand the extent of it. Not knowing is part of their terror. Around the novel's midpoint, a horrifying noise erupts from the sky. The noise divides the families' lives in two: 'the period before they'd heard the noise and the period after.' Inside the novel, no one discovers the source of the sound. However, readers learn from the Voice of God narrator ( VOG ) that top-secret fighter jets are scrambling toward a new era of battle over the eastern seaboard. If there were no VOG interruptions, no recurring omniscient assurances anchoring the contingencies of the interpersonal plot to the certainty of global apocalypse, 'Leave the World Behind' would be an anxiety novel. Is Armageddon nigh or not? Some of my favourite books are anxiety novels. Arguably, the end-of-the-world anxiety novel is scarier than speculative end-of-the-world fiction. Anxiety is torturous, paralyzing. It's a truism of the horror genre that anticipating the arrival of the monster can be more terrifying than the beast's appearance. But the uncertainty driving the anxiety novel, the book's ultimate source of terror, can't help but leave open the possibility that things might not be as bad as they seem. Nothing left to do but camp: Prince Amponsah, left, and Mackenzie Davis in the HBO Max television adaptation of the post-apocalyptic novel 'Station Eleven.' In 'Leave the World Behind,' there is no uncertainty. Because if the bombs are already in the air, the electrical grid is already down for the final time, the life-destroying echoes of the noise are already in your body, there is no future that isn't mass slaughter. As if to put a fine point on the guarantee of imminent death, the futility of resistance, Alam bores an unnoticed tick into Archie's ankle long before the boy is dying from noise-sickness. Why does Alam's crushing story captivate me? Why am I thrilled by the promise that we're on the edge of extinction? I think the book delights by allowing us to revel in the pleasures of giving up. Quit your job, break dinner plans, stop exercising, leave the relationship. What joy there is in not having to do the thing we thought we had to do. The world is ending and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it . In his essay 'On Giving Up,' the psychoanalyst Adam Phillips writes: 'We tend to think of giving up, in the ordinary way, as a lack of courage, as an improper or embarrassing orientation toward what is shameful and fearful.' However, Phillips argues, there is such a thing as 'a tyranny of completion, of finishing things, which can narrow our minds unduly.' The refusal to give up can be harmful, murderous. Phillips interprets 'Macbeth,' 'Lear,' and 'Othello' as tragic dramatizations of the tyranny of completion. My earliest memory of the desire to give up ends with my mother rejecting it. I was nine or 10 years old and wanted to quit the school choir. Mom and I stood in the kitchen before breakfast. I don't remember why it felt so important to quit, but I was crying, shaking, desperate for the relief of not having to sing that afternoon. Mom's response was sympathetic but stern: No. We don't quit things partway through. No negotiation. I felt like puking. I have quit things, though. And I've loved it. Oh, the joy of leaving that troubled 10-year relationship! I imagine it's what Scrooge felt waking on Christmas morning, learning that he has another chance. I instantly recall the butterflies, the excitement of quitting what seemed like a life destined for permanent frustration. The breakup was terrible. I hated hurting her. The logistics of moving were complicated, and she trashed the house when she left the final time. But I don't feel the pain of those hurtful memories as intensely as I feel the pleasure of the memory of giving up. Essayist, author and Wilfrid Laurier University professor James Cairns. The incredible thing is that most of the time, people don't give up. They struggle, they overcome, they get by, they make do. Why don't people kill themselves, asks Camus at the start of 'The Myth of Sisyphus.' Life is absurd; what's the point of living? Notwithstanding its obviousness, Camus's conclusion is profound: the nature of the human condition is to keep going, to not give up. That doesn't mean we don't fantasize about quitting, maybe even about leaving the world behind. It's the pleasure in the dream of quitting, not the politics of mass death, that I desire. In imagining the end of the world, I experience the release of countless other pressures. My own anxieties get transferred to the novel, where they disappear, if only for a fraction of a moment, in the blackout, the sound, the carnage of the plot. Research shows that watching horror movies can relieve psychological tension. There are better apocalyptic novels than 'Leave the World Behind.' For portraying social collapse as gradual and incomplete, Butler's 'Parable of the Sower' and Emily St. John Mandel's 'Station Eleven' are doubtless more realistic depictions of how modern society falls apart. The spirit of those books reminds me of Andreas Malm's admonition to fight climate change no matter the chances of victory. In 'How to Blow Up a Pipeline,' Malm argues that even if we know for certain that the climate crisis cannot be stopped there remains a moral imperative — a species-defining need — to fight until our last breath. 'Better to die blowing up a pipeline than to burn impassively,' writes Malm . The words could've come from Lauren Olamina's mouth. In Rice's 'Moon of the Crusted Snow,' once it's clear that widespread disaster has struck in 'the south' (the heartland of Canada, and, presumably, the world), Aileen, a community elder, says to her neighbour, Evan: 'In Crisis, on Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times' James Cairns 226 pages Wolsak and Wynn $22.00 ' What a silly word (apocalypse). I can tell you there's no word like that in Ojibwe. Well, I never heard a word like that from my elders anyway ... Our world isn't ending. It already ended. It ended when the Zhaagnaash (white man) came into our original home down south on that bay and took it from us. That was our world. When the Zhaagnaash cut down all the trees and fished all the fish and forced us out of there, that's when our world ended. They made us come all the way up here. This is not our homeland! But we had to adapt and luckily we already knew how to hunt and live on the land. We learned to live here ... But then they followed us up here and started taking our children away from us! That's when our world ended again. And that wasn't the last time.' Aileen is very likely right in assuming that the world will not end all at once. In 'Station Eleven,' 20 years after the pandemic killed 99.99 per cent of the human species, characters refer to themselves as living in the world after the end of the world. In the final pages of 'Prophet Song,' Paul Lynch writes that 'the world is always ending over and over again in one place but not another and that the end of the world is always a local event.' Viewed in one light, the world will not end even if it does. Of course, in a different light, one capable of simultaneously illuminating past, present, and future, the world will end, is ending . It's just a matter of time. In an essay about art's ability to alter experiences of time, Karl Ove Knausgård writes: 'We see the changes in the clouds but not the changes in the mountains,' because the 'now' of human perception excludes geologic time. In reality, mountains are moving, just more slowly than rivers and rabbits. It's anyone's guess how life on Earth is eventually snuffed out for good. Fire? Ice? Alien invasion? In any case, the party won't last forever. Butler and Mandel's realistic depictions of the gradual, uneven nature of collapse can make Alam's Big Bang version of the final crisis look foolish by comparison. But Alam is not wrong that one day it will all end in the passage of one second to the next. The light will be on, as it has been for millennia, and then, the light will go out. Alam's innovation is drawing that uniquely decisive moment from the (hopefully far-off) future and placing it in the now. Lights out tomorrow or next week. Whereas Butler, Mandel and Rice's main characters brim with insights about societal change and social justice, Alam's self-absorbed middle-class cast lusts over money and searches for Coca-Cola. Yet while stories of reproducing lives and communities in the aftermath of civilizational collapse are inspiring, admirable and satisfying, they're also exhausting, and not only because there are fires to build, continents to trudge across and gangs of murderous thieves to avoid. There's also the intense, inescapable fear on every page that survival won't work out. Nothing is guaranteed. By contrast, Alam's book guarantees the sudden and utter end of it all. There's catharsis in the swiftness and totality of such destruction. Amid today's overlapping political, economic and ecological crises, art's cathartic power is needed more urgently than ever. Show us the world vanishing on the page, and we may more clearly see sustainable paths ahead. Release in us the pleasure of giving up, and we may find new strength to struggle on. From 'In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times' by James Cairns. ©2025. Reproduced with the permission of Wolsak & Wynn, 2025.