Virginia Peninsula Community College is set to bring history to life this month with The Homage Exhibit, a traveling collection celebrating African American history and culture.
The exhibit opens on Tuesday, Feb.17, at VPCC’s Historic Triangle Campus in Williamsburg (4601 Opportunity Way), and then travels to the Hampton Campus on Thursday, Feb.19.
From the private collection of North Carolina natives Morris and Nia McAdoo, the exhibit features more than 650 rare items spanning Black history from the era of slavery to the election of Barack Obama.
Free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the exhibit will be on view at the Historic Triangle Campus in Room 110 and in Hampton at the library in Kecoughtan Hall.
It features artifacts connected to many cultural icons, including Booker T. Washington, Shirley Chisholm, and Frederick Douglass, alongside materials that highlight defining moments of the Civil Rights Movement. The collection also includes artwork by renowned artists Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett, adding creative depth to the narrative.
The Feb. 19 Hampton Campus visit will feature a special lecture by collector and curator Nia McAdoo at 7 p.m. at the Dr. Mary T. Christian Theatre in Templin Hall. The 60-minute presentation offers a moving, in-person journey through Black history, blending rare artifacts with personal storytelling and cultural insight to bring the exhibit’s themes vividly to life.
VPCC presents The Homage Exhibit in observance of Black History Month, which began in 1926 as a weeklong effort led by historian Carter G. Woodson to raise awareness of African American history. Expanded to a monthlong observance in 1976, Black History Month continues to serve as a time to learn, reflect, and honor the contributions of Black Americans.
For more information about the College, visit vpcc.edu.