Black History Month will be celebrated at the Monmouth County Library with special weekend programs at the Monmouth County Library Headquarters, 125 Symmes Drive, Manalapan, and the Eastern Branch Library, 1001 Route 35, Shrewsbury.
The programs will explore the legacy of more than 3,000 New Jersey African Americans who served in the Civil War; and the life and times of legendary cowboy Nat Love, also known as “Deadwood Dick.” All programs are free, family friendly and open to the public.
“Celebrating Black History Month: Nat the Cowboy” will be presented at 2 p.m. Feb. 13 at library headquarters in Manalapan. Actor, singer, storyteller Rochel Garner Coleman will present the life and times of the most famous black American cowboy Nat Love (a.k.a. “Deadwood Dick,” named when he won a cowboy competition in Deadwood, South Dakota). This performance is based on stories from Love’s autobiography. Love was a slave born in Tennessee who went west at the age of 15 to seek freedom and opportunity.
“New Jersey’s African American Civil War Soldiers” will be presented at 2 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Eastern Branch Library in Shrewsbury. Joseph G. Bilby, a Vietnam War veteran, author and columnist for the “Civil War News” and publications editor for the New Jersey Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, will discuss the often overlooked subject of the service of almost 3,000 New Jersey African Americans in the Union army and navy.
For more information about the programs, call Library Headquarters at 732-431-7220 or the Eastern Branch Library at 866-941-8188 or visit www.monmouthcountylib.org.