African Americans have been in America as far back as colonial times but it was not until the 20th century their presence in the history books was recognized. The study of black history and the celebration of Black History Month are owed to Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was born to former slaves and spent his childhood years working in the Kentucky coal mines, finally enrolling in high school when he was 20. After graduating from high school in only two years he went on the graduate from Harvard with a doctorate degree.

Woodson took on the challenge of writing black Americans into our nation's history and established the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History in 1915 and created the Journal of Negro History a year later. In 1926, Negro History Week was launched as an initiative to bring attention to the historical contributions made to America by African American people. To learn more about the significance of February in black American history visit the following Web site: www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmintro1.html.

The Library of Congress also has an African American History Month link at www.loc.gov . This site is a great resource where you can learn about featured African Americans, the involvement of Black Americans in the US military through the Veterans History Project and a Learning Page for teachers and students. When viewing the site http://biography.com/blackhistory you have access to classroom tools to bring Black History Month into the classroom, the link, Quoting Greatness Quiz as well as 101 Fast Facts about little known achievements in Black History.

The Library will host an exhibition, "Afro Psalms," which will be on display through March 16. This exhibition is a collaboration pairing the art work of an early 20th-century white illustrator with the modern verse of a black poet.

The art pieces were created by the award-winning artist and illustrator Grant Reynard, a Grand Island native, and are part of the ARTreach Traveling Exhibition from the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney. MONAs hold the nation's largest collection of works by Reynard, who is best know for his illustrations in classic magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, Ladies' Home Journal and Redbook.

Poet Charles Fort holds many honors including the Paul W. Reynolds and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Endowed Chair in Poetry and is professor of English at the University of Nebraska Kearney. Fort has been awarded the Randall Jarrell Poetry Prize.

Through his accompanying poetry, Fort gives context to the images of blacks by his historic recollections, which address the struggles of being a black American in the first half of the 20th century. Reynard's depictions are honest and endearing and his acute observations of day-to-day life were key to his popularity as an illustrator but Fort's poetry brings historical perspective to the works.

Reynard had this said of him, "Mr. Reynard is more than a maker of pictures, he is a straight thinker, a sound critic, a steadfast and courageous defender of sanity and beauty, and a formidable opponent of the superficial, the ugly, and the fad." When these works were created there was little market for black images but Reynard's creativity came from a need to express himself. Through the collaboration of Fort's poetry the viewers experience the inner essence of the people depicted.

Visit the library and learn more about Black History Month, enjoy viewing the Afro Psalms Exhibition and take home a few books from our Black History Month book display to assist you on your journey of life long learning.

Patsy Arnold is a librarian for the Grand Island Public Library.