Black History Month Continues

Mathew Fragola, staff writer

Black History Month was in February, but for Charlottesville it remains a trending topic in the community.

The Jefferson school African American heritage center hosted three Anisfield-Wolf Book Award recipients, Peter Ho Davies (The Fortunes), Tyehimba Jess (Olio), Margot Lee Shetterly (Hidden Figures) and Pulitzer Prize winner and Poet Laureate Rita Dove for a hour and half to end the week-long Virginia Festival of the Book.

The event, called Writing the American Story: Diverse Voices in Distinguished Books, was a packed event that was filled with energy.

“Diversity is a word that I have trouble with,” said Shetterly. The statement chilled the audience as she continued to speak about how black history is not just something that should be celebrated for the shortest month of the year, but something that should be ingrained in our culture along with other minorities.

“Books taught me a lot more than my parents,” Davies said answering a question about what made him want to write. For the event, the authors talked about their work followed by questions from the audience.

They all took turns answering the same question. Three of the four speakers were of African-American descent and one was of Asian descent. This led to different viewpoints, but they had the same central idea that more than just white culture is going to help the country grow in times of distress similar to now. They all agreed on not using social media when heavy into their works and all agreed with Davies about books being their greatest mentors.

After the talk ended, the audience had the opportunity to purchase books the authors have written and participate in a meet and greet with them.