HomeMy Public PortalAboutTOL PR 2012-02-14 Black History Month exhibits
Town of Leesburg
News Release
For Immediate Release
Black History Month Exhibits Currently on View
at the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg
Leesburg, VA (February 14, 2012) – Two exhibits honoring
black history month are on view at the Thomas Balch Library
(208 West Market Street, Leesburg) through February 29,
2012.
In the Margaret Mercer Room, the I Have A Dream Committee
presents a history of the annual Martin Luther King Day March
in Leesburg. Beginning in 1992, the annual community
commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream is now in its
twentieth year. The history of collaboration between the
organizations behind the march – the Loudoun County Branch NAACP, the Loudoun Douglass
Alumni Association, Baha’i Community of Loudoun and the Bluemont Concert Series, known
together as the ‘I Have a Dream Committee’ – is revealed through speeches, photographs,
newspaper clippings, ribbons and other mementoes.
Also on view during February, the Thomas Balch Library presents The Underground Railroad
Quilt in the John Janney room. Created by local quilter Debra Petitt and donated to the Library
in 2011, the quilt features patterns passed down by oral tradition that may have been used to
provide directions and advice to escaping slaves on the dangerous journey to freedom. Quilts,
long a source of personal and artistic expression for enslaved and free African Americans before
the Civil War, were easily adapted to display symbols that helped guide “passengers” between
safe havens on the Underground Railroad. Pettit’s sixteen panel quilt features one set of
symbols in the order they may have been used and describes the meaning of each symbol.
More than just a roadmap, the symbols depicted on The Underground Railroad Quilt also
document the experience of escaping slaves on their journey to freedom.
Both exhibits are free and open to the public during regular Thomas Balch Library hours
through February 29, 2012.
About the Thomas Balch Library: Thomas Balch Library is a history and genealogy library
owned and operated by the Town of Leesburg. A designate Underground Railroad research site,
(more)
TOL PR 2012-02-14 Black History Month exhibits
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the Library’s collections focus on Loudoun County, regional and Virginia history, genealogy,
military history with special emphasis on the American Civil War, and ethnic history. For more
information, please visit www.leesburgva.gov/ThomasBalchLibrary.
Contact:
Alexandra S. Gressitt
Library Director
agressitt@leesburgva.gov
703-737-7196
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