Black Historical past Month occasion to discover photographic historical past of Columbus’ Black inhabitants

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COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The King Arts Complex and the Columbus Metropolitan Library are jointly celebrating Black History Month with a unique virtual event that takes place on Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

“It’s the photo archive of the old Call & Post newspaper, which was a black newspaper here in Columbus,” said Angela O’Neal, local history and genealogy director at the headquarters. A collection of photos discovered in the basement of the King Arts Complex.

“The super exciting thing is that we don’t have any copies of the paper that we could find for 1968-1972,” said O’Neal.

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So the library staff were busy scanning and digitizing all of the photos from the rare collection.

“These photos are the story of the African American community here in Columbus for those years that we thought would be gone,” said O’Neal.

They ask for the help of the community.

“We have a lot of pictures, but there are some that didn’t show who these people are,” said Keisha Gibbs, CML African American Special Collection Supervisor. “And then we’re going to look at some of the pictures and see if we can identify some of the things that are going on in the pictures.”

“We won’t find them anywhere else; We don’t find it in mail order, we don’t find it in other newspapers, but because Call & Post was able to document this story we can now share it, “said O’Neal.

“We notice things that are going on, you will see people on strike and they will hold up signs,” Gibbs said.

Production of the rare collection and teaching aid.

“It just goes to show the importance of recording our history so we can see how things can repeat themselves,” Gibbs added.

In order to take part in the virtual event, you will be asked to register Here.