Black Culture House Celebrates Black History Month

Black Culture House of Santa Barbara is preparing for Black History Month (February) with another annual series of weekend pop-up events including book talks, live music, and more. These events celebrate Black art, culture, and history and are all open and free to the public. They will go for the entire month, starting on Saturday, February 1 and ending with the final event on Sunday, February 23. 

Black Culture House was produced and curated by Darrell M. McNeill and his wife Sally A. Foxen-McNeill. It started in 2020 to celebrate Black history in Santa Barbara and continues to create a safe space for learning, appreciation, and celebration. 

Just like previous years, most of the events will take place on Saturdays at Soul Bites between Haley and Gutierrez Streets in Downtown Santa Barbara. For all events at Soul Bites, doors will open at noon with the events starting at 1 p.m.

To kick off Black Culture House on February 1, Ademola Oyewole-Davis and Tayllor Oyewole-Davis will be hosting a live poetry slam that features up-and-coming Black poets. The next Saturday, February 8, is a community discussion titled “Coffee With A Black Guy” with James Joyce III, a journalist and community leader. His talk is centered on race in America with a focus on the current political climate. The following week on February 15, UC Santa Barbara Black Studies professor Christopher McAuley will be in conversation with Cal Lutheran University Political Science professor Greg Freeland. They will discuss Freeland’s book “Music and Black Community in Segregated North Carolina: It’s All Right.” The last event at Soul Bites will take place on Saturday, February 22 and spotlight Los Angeles based funk band, BFunkn.

To continue the celebration around Santa Barbara, Black Culture House has partnered with the Santa Barbara Public Library and Chaucer’s Books for an extra couple of weekend events. On Sunday, February 16, the Faulkner Gallery at the library will show a screening of Chisholm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed.

For the entire month, Chaucer’s will showcase Sally A. Foxen-McNeill’s photo exhibit of Black music artists. The last event on February 23 will be a book talk with Darrell M. McNeill about his recent book The Isley Brothers: 3+3, which covers said band’s rock n’ roll history. The latter event begins at 3 p.m. 

Darrell M. McNeill emphasized that today, Black Culture House is needed more than ever. “The political climate is exactly why we’ve been doing this since 2020,” he said.

For more information about Black Culture House and any updates about events visit their Instagram at @sbblackculturehouse or their Facebook page “Santa Barbara Black Culture House.”