The City of Reno hosted their Black History Month celebration Thursday with several partners such as the Northern Nevada Black Cultural Awareness Society, Our Story Inc., and Tabnie Dozier Enterprises to organize this event help people learn more about it.
Attendees got the opportunity to learn about Black History Month through a more local perspective. Community and city representatives led the celebration with a proclamation presentation in front of the believe sign followed by a unity walk to city hall.
"As the Civil rights movement, as any other movement that you've seen in history, we can't do anything unless we do it together, so a unity walk is the kind of perfect signifying to the City Hall. A perfect symbol of said unity that we've been discussing," said Jessica Vann, the President of Northern Nevada Black Cultural Awareness Society.
During the celebration people got the opportunity to learn more about the rich contributions of black leaders in Reno with a display provided by the Northern Nevada African American Firefighter Museum, and local black-owned businesses were offering small bites to everyone.
Vann said that Thursday was just the beginning of many more celebrations, "We're just beginning. The best is yet to come."
She told us that this Saturday they will be hosting their 2nd annual fam fest at Hug High School.
"That is basically games, prizes, conversations, there's going to be over 40 resources there for our community to kind of just gain whatever information they need to help them in whatever areas, health, there's going to be youth services there," Vann said.
The Believe sign will be illuminated in red, yellow, and green throughout the rest of the month. The colors symbolize solidarity, unity, and pride.
Helen Townsell, a Reno resident since 1956, told me that she's seen the city change so much over the years, "There's been a lot of change here. A lot of change, a lot of blacks who moved here now which back when I was growing up it was very few."
Townsell said that there was a time when Reno was referred to as 'The Mississippi of the West'.
"Blacks weren't allowed in the casinos, you couldn't buy property in downtown Reno, you were basically sent to the North Valleys to a place called Black Springs is where I grew up at, and the amenities were no running water, no electricity, no sewage."
Not only does Townsell hope that people celebrate Black history for more than just one month, but she also wants more people to learn about our local history with the Black community.
"The history needs to be shared more. There's so much local Reno Nevada history, and I just think it needs to be shared more with our kids, with our young adults who really don't know anything about that history."
