Each February for the past 24 years, Chesterfield County, with the help of many corporate and individual sponsors, has conducted numerous events that have made Chesterfield County the region’s leader in annual Black History Month commemorations.

In 2013, in honor of our theme From Civil War to Civil Rights, the county is sponsoring a series of programs that includes storytelling, lectures, music and crafts. A new addition to the program this year is a symposium on Feb. 16 at Virginia State University. The symposium, From Civil War to Civil Rights: The Effects of the Emancipation Proclamation, is cosponsored by the Chesterfield County Black History Month and Sesquicentennial Committees, and the Chesterfield County Historical Society of Virginia. Featured speakers include Dr. Ed Ayers, Grady Powell, Dr. Edna Greene Medford, Emmanuel Dabney, Herbert Coulton, Dr. Lauranett Lee and Dr. Lucious Edwards.

Another highlight of the month will be the annual Business Breakfast and Scholarship Recognition Program, which will feature Mark Gordon, CEO, St. Francis Medical Center, as the guest speaker. Twelve scholarships will be awarded to Chesterfield County high school students to be used at a Virginia college or university.

View the 2012 Leadership for the 21st Century Scholarship Winners    

A special thanks to the 2013 sponsors: Bank of America; Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center; Brandywine Realty Trust; Church and Dwight Virginia Company, Inc.; John Cogbill III; Columbia Gas of Virginia; Dominion Virginia Power; DuPont; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Eanes Jr.; Filtrona Porous Technologies Corp.; Mr. and Mrs. William H. Goodwin Jr.; Hunton and Williams, LLC; Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.; Malcolm Pirnie, the Water Division of ARCADIS; Networking Technologies + Support, Inc.; Stith Solutions, LLC; Union First Market Bank; Virginia State University; Virginia Credit Union; Wells Fargo