TULSA, Okla. — February marks Black History Month. A month dedicated to black culture, art and history. And Tulsa’s own Gathering Place is celebrating in a special way.
Tulsa’s black history runs deep. And Saturday, that history was celebrated through music, art, culture and education. Saturday afternoon, dozens came together to celebrate black excellence with Tulsa in Harmony and the Gathering Place.
“I think people are seeing people that don’t look like them interacting with each other, celebrating art, music, literature. I think it’s just a place, like the name of the program, Tulsa in Harmony, we’re seeing Tulsa in the way that it could be all the time, and the world,” said Kyra Carby with Gathering Place.
As part of the event, different local artists displayed their works. One of those is Trueson Daugherty. He said highlighting black art and black culture is how he got his start.
“I’m biracial I’m black and white so to me, in the beginning a lot of my work was just black history in paintings. I did that for a while, I had a show at the Greenwood Gallery and some other stuff and I’d do portraits of black history leaders,” said Daughtery.
But remembering the hard times is a crucial part of black history. And for that, north Tulsa rapper, Steph Simon shared his songs of growing up in north Tulsa and the struggles he went through as a black man.
“I just speak to a lot of that and a lot of Tulsa that grew up in that same matter, they relate to it and they just love to hear it,” said Simon.
And while black history month is reserved for February, Simon said remembering his past, and celebrating his present and future happens every day of the year.
“I’m gonna do it in march, I’m gonna do it in April, I’m gonna do it all the way through the year, until it’s normal. Until it’s normalcy to see black people do great things, I’m gonna keep pushing,” said Simon.
You can see the art exhibits every Saturday at the Gathering Place Boathouse from 2 to 4 throughout the month of February.
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