Martin Luther King Jr. Statue 

Location: City Hall - 10455 Armstrong St., Fairfax
February 1 - February 29

Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center 

Frederick Douglass: Advocate for Equality 

February 1st - March 1st
Location: 10209 Main St., Fairfax    
Daily Hours: 11AM - 4PM

In this traveling banner exhibition, viewers can learn about Douglass's escape from slavery, his work as an abolitionist, and his tireless fight for equality for all individuals in the Jim Crow era. Douglass's impact and his life are explored through his words, photographs, and documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. 

FREE ADMISSION

Virginia Opera Presents

Cotton

Tuesday, February 6
7PM
(Show Runs Approx. 75 Minutes, including Q&A)
Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center
3740 Blenheim Blvd., Fairfax

FREE ADMISSION - REGISTRATION REQUIRED

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Damien Geter, Composer
Tesia Kwarteng, Mezzo-Soprano
Adam Richardson, Baritone
Nyle Matsukoa, Piano

Part of Virginia Opera’s 2nd annual Pride in Black Voices program as well as a free, open-to-the-public presentation of the Friends of the Center for the Arts Artists in Conversation Series, this event features a performance of composer Damien Geter’s moving song cycle inspired by the haunting “Cotton” photography of acclaimed artist John Dowell, whose works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other galleries. Each song in the cycle features the poetry of Nikki Giovanni, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and other Black American poets, and explores the Black American journey seen through the lens of the cotton industry, making it a poignant exploration of history and culture. The Philadelphia Inquirer notes the work “promises to pack a punch.”

Geter will participate in a talk back following the performance. Praised by the Wall Street Journal for his “skillful vocal writing,” he is also an acclaimed bass-baritone and conductor. He portrays William Still in the Virginia Opera production of Sanctuary Road, running at the Center for the Arts February 3–4, and is the composer of Virginia Opera’s new Loving v. Virginia, which will have its world premiere as part of the Center’s 2024/2025 season.

Cotton is underwritten by Dr. Arnold Stolberg.

Event made possible with the help of the City of Fairfax and the Center for the Arts at George Mason University. 

EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Meet Frederick Douglass 

Portrayed by Nathan M. Richardson

February 11
2PM - 3:30PM   
Historic Blenheim, 3610 Blenheim Blvd., Fairfax

FREE ADMISSION

Nathan Richardson's The Frederick Douglass Speaking Tour has been seen live nationally and internationally and has film credits with the National Park Service and Alabama Public Television. Nathan’s recent rendition of the speech “Frederick Douglass Honors the Unknown Loyal Dead” was Nominated for Best Short Film at the 2022 "I Will Tell Film International Festival.” You can learn more about Nathan Richardson and his work at www.scpublishing.com. 

Mr. Richardson is a published author, performance poet and Frederick Douglass historian. His living history performance of Frederick Douglass captures completely the physical, spiritual and intellectual essence of the former slave, writer, orator and abolitionist.

City of Fairfax Black History Month Proclamation

Tuesday, February 13
7PM - Council Meeting
Location: City Hall, 10455 Armstrong St., Fairfax  

Please join us in person or online for the Council Meeting, where Mayor Read will be presenting the Black History Month Proclamation. 

WATCH LIVE HERE

JOIN US VIRTUALLY!!

Join Zoom Meeting

https://fairfaxva-gov.zoom.us/j/82746407370?pwd=GlHNy01vv512xKqCjT7nPx1JXsbboQ.1

Meeting ID: 827 4640 7370
Passcode: 172299

Music for Social Well-Being

February 21
7pm - 8:15pm
City of Fairfax Meeting Room A/B
10360 North St., Fairfax

REGISTRATION REQUIRED:
CLICK HERE!

FEEL LIKE A COMMUNITY AGAIN

This program uses music and storytelling to bring people together and to re-engage and uplift our shared humanity in our communities. Simply put, it will help us get reacquainted with our neighbors again after the long COVID isolation. Music selections are chosen from our very diverse American Songbook from Spirituals to Rock & Roll. 

Calvin Earl, the US Spokesman for the African American Spirituals as a National Treasure, will guide this program with singing and storytelling in a fun and joyful gathering. Cosponsored by the Fairfax Library Foundation.

ABOUT CALVIN EARL

Mr. Earl has been playing and singing since he was a young boy. Church was a prominent part of his childhood, so it is no wonder that in 2007 Mr. Earl rose to national prominence when he succeeded in submitting Twin Resolutions and then moved the US Congress to a unanimous vote that would “recognize the African American Spiritual as a National Treasure,” thus honoring enslaved people for their contributions to our nation.

Mr. Earl performs concert and lecture programs and continues his advocacy to ensure the African American spirituals and the oral history of the enslaved Africans are included in our current educational curriculum. 

INVITE

This program is appropriate for anyone who enjoys music and singing. Register by clicking on the "Begin Registration" button (below). 
Make sure to register each person attending this event.

Fall for the Book Presents:
Breaking the Mold with Marlon James

Thursday, February 22 at 7pm

Harris Theater, 4471 Aquia Creek Lane, Fairfax

RESERVE YOUR TICKET:
CLICK HERE!

About the Event: 

Marlon James has won high praise for his Dark Star Trilogy – which Entertainment Weekly describes as “drenched in African myth and folklore.” The first book, Black Leopard, Red Wolf was a finalist for the National Book Award, and was named one of TIME’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Now James is back with the second installment, Moon Witch, Spider King, which flips the story on its head, retelling it from the Moon Witch’s perspective – a tale that’s “part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man.” Salman Rushdie praises the sequel, saying it’s “A fabulist reimagining of Africa, with inevitable echoes of Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and Black Panther.” Sponsored by the George Mason Friends.

About the Author:

Marlon James was born in Jamaica in 1970. He is the author of the New York Times-bestseller Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction in 2019. His novel A Brief History of Seven Killings won the 2015 Man Booker Prize. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for fiction, and the Minnesota Book Award. James is also the author of The Book of Night Women, which won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Minnesota Book Award, and was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction and an NAACP Image Award. His first novel, John Crow’s Devil, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for first fiction and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. 

ArtScreen Presents 

"A Great Day in Harlem" Film

Friday, February 23
7:30PM (Doors open at 7PM)
Stacy C. Sherwood Center, 3740 Blenheim Blvd., Fairfax

FREE ADMISSION
Free candy, popcorn, and drinks until supplies lasts!

(1994) Not Rated

This Oscar nominated documentary compiles interviews of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. The gathering of these musicians led to the iconic photograph of the same name by Art Kane. 

Funday Monday with...

Monday, February 26
10:30AM - 11:15AM
Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center
3740 Blenheim Blvd., Fairfax

Recommended for Pre-school aged children (all are welcomed).

FREE ADMISSION

"Going to Grandma's"

Going to Grandma's is a live and interactive storytelling adventure for kids! They will sing, dance, and pantomime their way to Grandma's house and back. The program will also include a story time, featuring "Brer Rabbit".