DeKalb County Historical Center receives grant for Arts in Action program

DeKALB – The DeKalb County History Center in Sycamore and Ellwood House Museum in DeKalb received a grant from the DeKalb County Community Mental Health Board to support a year of programming for the Arts in Action project.

The programs began with a January showing of the movie “Harriet,”, according to a news release.

The next program is a community read featuring the book “Stella by Starlight” by Sharon Draper at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Sycamore Public Library, 103 E. State St., Sycamore; 6 p.m. Thursday, March 2, at the DeKalb County History Center, 1730 N. Main St., Sycamore; and at 6 p.m. Monday, March 6, at the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St., DeKalb.

The book takes place in 1930s North Carolina and includes themes of racial discrimination, voting intimidation, social separation, and a strong sense of community during difficult times for Black families, according to the news release. There also will be three discussions about the book and its connections to local history.

The history center’s website will have more details on the following upcoming speakers: Clint Smith, author; Angela Jackson, Illinois Poet Laureate; Ada Chang, “Our Words, Our Truths: Storytelling as a performative memoir for collective identity and community engagement”; Catalina Maria Johnson, “Latinos in Illinois: Music as Cultural History”; Donna Sack and Jeanne Schultz Angel, Naper Settlement, on their exhibit, “Unvarnished: Housing Discrimination in Northern and Western United States”; and NIU Professor Joseph Flynn, in conjunction with a visit from john powell, who does not capitalize his name.

For information, visit dekalbcountyhistory.org, createchange.today or email michelle@dekalbcountyhistory.org.