Black History Month | Buffalo New York

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Forest Lawn Cemetery is a 269-acre historic cemetery in Buffalo that was created in 1849. Thousands of people are buried there, including Buffalo native and Grammy-winning musician Rick James and former U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center tells the stories of Underground Railroad in Niagara Falls. The center opened in May 2018 after more than 11 years of planning. It’s located adjacent to the former International Suspension Bridge where Harriet Tubman and other freedom seekers crossed in to Canada.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Michigan Street Archway marks the entrance to Buffalo’s African-American Heritage Corridor. The 25-foot archway was completed in August 2019 and sits on Michigan Avenue between William Street and Broadway. Artist and activist Valeria Cray designed the archway to raise awareness about the area’s importance to Buffalo’s rich African-American culture.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

WUFO Mix 1080 AM, Western New York’s first radio station programming to the African-American community, began in 1961. In 2017, it relaunched as Power 96.5 and was added to the FM dial. The station is the only black-owned station in Western New York and is located in Buffalo’s African American Heritage Corridor on Broadway.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Nash House Museum in Buffalo was the home of Rev. Dr. J. Edward Nash and his family from 1925 to 1987. The Nash House museum is affectionately known as "the home where a community was built." Rev. Nash’s leadership and presence in Buffalo’s African-American community during the first 50 years of the 20th Century made him well-respected in the region.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Jesse Edward Nash was born in 1868. He attended divinity school at Virginia Union College, and chose Buffalo’s Michigan Street Baptist Church in 1892 as his ministry destination, because of its legendary association with the historic Underground Railroad. Rev. Nash’s ministry at Michigan Street Baptist Church lasted for 61 years.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Michigan Street Baptist Church is a historic African American Baptist Church in Buffalo. In the 1800s, it was used as a safe haven for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad before they crossed over into Canada.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor is both a nationally and internationally-recognized neighborhood in Buffalo that features several historic buildings. It runs along Michigan Avenue from Ferry Street, continuing onto Broadway and South Division Street. The Michigan Street Baptist Church, Nash House Museum, and The Colored Musicians Club are a few of the prominent places located along this corridor.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The vision of the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center is to embrace the cultural heritage of the past, present and future. It houses Freedom Crossing – an Underground Railroad exhibit, which tells the story of the Underground Railroad movement in Western New York and shares stories about the people who risked their lives in the name of freedom.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

A 56-acre historic park on Buffalo’s East Side, Martin Luther King Jr. Park was designed for activities such as military drills and sporting events. It was originally named the Parade Park, and later in 1977 renamed to honor the civil rights leader.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Broderick Park is a historic park located along the Niagara River in Buffalo. The park occupies an area that once housed docks for the Black Rock Ferry, which is known to have transported freedom seekers to Canada in the early 1800s.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

June Bacon-Bercey was an international expert on weather and aviation. She became the first Black woman to earn a degree in meteorology and the first Black TV meteorologist. One of her earlier jobs was here in Buffalo, where she was the first woman to be awarded the American Meteorological Society’s Seal of Approval for excellence in television weathercasting.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The African American Cultural Center provides programming and services that celebrate and support African Americans and cultural diversity. The center was founded in 1958 by Malcolm Erni, a Buffalo native, and evangelist. It’s located on Masten Avenue in Buffalo.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Freedom Wall is a mural at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo. It features 28 portraits of prominent African American civil rights leaders from both Buffalo and around the world. The Freedom Wall was created in 2017 by local artists John Baker, Julia Bottoms-Douglas, Chuck Tingley and Edreys Wajed.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Shirley Anita Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress and went on to represent New York’s 12th congressional district for 14 years. She was also the first black woman to run for President of the United States. Chisholm lived in Amherst for several years. She is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Grammy award winning musician Rick James was born and raised in Buffalo. He is best known for climbing the R&B charts with hits like “Superfreak” and “Give It To Me Baby.” James died in 2004 and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Buffalo NAACP chapter was founded on January 15, 1915. The NAACP, also known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was organized to improve the political, educational, social and economic status of minority groups. Mary Talbert and Reverend J. Edward Nash played a role in the founding of the Buffalo chapter.

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The Colored Musicians Club in Buffalo is the only remaining African American musicians club in the country. In 1979, the club was officially labeled as a historic landmark and in 1999, the club was designated as a historical preservation site.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Byron Brown is the first African American Mayor of Buffalo. He is currently serving his fourth four-year term. Brown was also the first African-American politician elected to the New York State Senate to represent a district outside New York City.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

In 1974, Buffalo native Beverly Ann Johnson was the first African American woman and model to appear on the cover of Vogue Magazine. She graduated from Bennett High School in 1969. The New York Times named Johnson one of the 20th century’s most influential people in fashion in 2008.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

In the early 1900s African American Musicians were not allowed to join the only musicians union in Buffalo. On this day in 1917, eight local black musicians decided to create their own union, Local 533. A year later, the union formed a social club called the Colored Musicians Club, which is still located on the corner of Broadway and Michigan Avenue.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Underground Railroad was a secret network of people who provided assistance to those escaping slavery. Many fugitive slaves came through the Buffalo Niagara region, crossing over to Canada during the 1800s. Harriet Tubman led escaping slaves across the Suspension Bridge from the Cataract House ferry in Niagara Falls.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

The Buffalo Urban League’s mission is to empower African Americans other minorities and disadvantaged individuals to secure economic self-reliance, parity, and civil rights. Rev. Dr. J. Edward Nash was very instrumental in bringing branches of the Urban League to Buffalo.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Founded in 1905, the Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization that opposed racial segregation and disenfranchisement. W.E.B. Du Bois, William Trotter, Fredrick McGhee and Charles Bentley, all recognized the need for a national activist group and organized a conference in Buffalo.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Buffalo’s Juneteenth Festival is the third-largest celebration of the holiday in the world. June 19 was chosen as the date that would celebrate the emancipation of slaves throughout the United States. The Juneteenth Festival started in Western New York in 1976. The annual festival is held at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

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Spectrum News Celebrates Black History Month

Robeson Theatre is the oldest African American Theatre in Western New York. The 130-seat theatre was founded in 1968 to help showcase African American playwrights, producers, directors, actors and stage technicians in Buffalo and Western New York. It’s located inside the African American Cultural Center on Masten Avenue.

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