An annual celebration of African Americans’ powerful legacy, Black History Month has been honored in California—and nationwide—every February for nearly 100 years, beginning with Carter G. Woodson's establishment of Negro History Week in 1926. This year, there are plenty of ways to recognize Black excellence in the Golden State and reflect on the continued struggle for racial justice across the country.
“Both the natural landscape and built environment of our state are filled with the significance of California’s African American past,” says Susan Anderson, history curator of the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles. “Black history is often under-researched and underrepresented, and there is so much out there for people to experience year-round. Black History Month is a way of opening that door.” Explore, honor, learn, and uplift Black history in California through these February events and others that you can experience any month of the year.
Visit an African American Historical Site
As an expert in California Black history, CAAM’s Anderson notes a few historically significant places across the state that “invite reflection, learning, pride, and sometimes heartache.” In eastern San Diego County, spend a night at the Julian Gold Rush Hotel, founded by African American couple Margaret and Albert Robinson in 1887. Head to the Central Valley to find Tulare County’s Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, the site of a restored town that was originally founded and governed by African Americans in 1908, and Stockton’s Moses Rogers House, the former home of an enslaved man turned wealthy mine owner. Other sites that offer insight into the critical but often forgotten role African Americans played in the California Gold Rush include Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, where visitors can learn about one of the American River’s largest gold camps founded by African American miners, and Sonora’s Sugg House, a boarding house founded by a formerly enslaved couple who came to California during the Rush.
Of course, the state’s two largest metropolitan areas have their share of Black history–related historical sites as well. In Los Angeles, locations include Biddy Mason Memorial Park, where you can learn about the inspiring woman who fought successfully to free her family in 1856, and El Pueblo de Los Angeles, a living museum dedicated to the city’s 44 founders, more than half of which were of African descent. Head 380 miles up the coast, and the Bay Area is home to many important Black Panther Party locations like It’s All Good Bakery in Oakland, while San Francisco’s Mary Ellen Pleasant Memorial Park honors the powerful African American woman who funded anti-discrimination measures in the late 1800s.
Attend a Black History Month Event
From art exhibits to street fairs, California-based organizations are throwing a number of great events for Black History Month in 2026, which this year has the theme of African Americans and Labor.
Visit Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs website for a comprehensive list of events all around the city, including an African Marketplace and Drum Circle at the farmers’ market in Leimert Park and the 45th Annual Black Doll Show at the William Grant Still Art Center. At the Californian African American Museum, there are several exhibitions one can visit during the monthlong celebration. These Walking Glories, a solo exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Sage Ni’Ja Whitson, pays homage to Black trans losses and celebrates Black trans living (runs through April 5); also offered, with screenings through March 22, is Sometimes I Feel Like I Am Almost Home—a short film by Los Angeles–based filmmaker and visual storyteller J.J. Anderson that portrays his efforts to reclaim the freedom, passion, and sense of possibility he felt as a child as an adult. Another current exhibition that extends through Black History Month is The Black Interior, a study of artists’ domestic spaces.
On Feb. 4, the L.A. County Library celebrates by exploring the work of African American artist Kara Walker and designing an art piece that highlights her distinctive silhouette style. For teens ages 12 - 18.
Elsewhere in the city, the annual Black History Month Festival will be held on Saturday, February 21, at the La Brea Tar Pits. The celebration will feature dozens of vendors, a health fair, and community music performances.
In San Francisco, February 1 will see the Black History Month Celebration at Thrive City; and on Feb. 19 The Black History Month Joy Fest celebrates with a live performance from LaRussell, crafts, activities such as double-dutch and hopscotch, and food. From MLK Day through February, the African American Center in the San Francisco Main Library will host performances, author readings, exhibitions and more as part of its Black history More Than a Month series.
Across the bay, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center hosts the 3rd Annual Lunar New Year x Black History Month Community Celebration on Feb. 7 to celebrate Asian and African American solidarity through art, music, and dance via a lineup of Black and Asian martial artists, drummers, and dance groups.
On February 20, a special event celebrating the month and West African culture will be held at the South San Francisco Public Library. Decorate wooden models of famous Black figures and inventions while enjoying a sip of sorrel, a sweet hibiscus tea with roots in West Africa. (this event is free).
For more ideas, explore events hosted by the San Francisco African American Historical and Cultural Society, the San Diego Public Library, UC San Francisco, and the cities of Oakland and Livermore, to name a few.
In Anaheim, Disneyland Resort offers its own celebration during February. The festivities include extra meet-and-greets with Tiana and Ariel, special cuisine at restaurants including Tiana’s Palace, and the “Celebrate Gospel” concerts at Disneyland Park’s Fantasyland Theatre (Feb. 20–21 and 27–28), headlined by Grammy-nominated gospel singers each night. In Disney California Adventure Park, expect displays that pay homage to influential Black leaders, artists, and more with the Heritage Trail events. Take time to admire the art of Floyd Norman, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ first Black animator, and the work of others such as Frederick Douglass, Scott Joplin, Dom Flemons, and more.
Put Black Arts and Cultural Institutions on Your Travel Must-See List
Take a deeper dive into African American history, arts, and culture at one of California’s many museums. At the African American Historical and Cultural Museum of the San Joaquin Valley, you can find permanent and rotating exhibits centered on the history of the Fresno area and beyond. The aforementioned CAAM, in L.A.’s Exposition Park, focuses on the broader legacy of Black Americans across California and the western United States through more than 4,000 works of art, artifacts, and historical documents.
San Francisco highlights its African American communities and history year-round along its self-guided African American Excursion, which includes stops at the Museum of the African Diaspora in the Yerba Buena Arts District, The MLK Memorial, and a statue of Willie Mays, as well as opportunities to stop at many great Black-owned restaurants, bakeries, and shops along the way. Near Hayes Valley, find the 34,000-square-foot African American Art and Culture Complex, home to galleries, exhibition spaces, dance studios, a library, theater, and more. In Oakland, visit The African American Museum & Library, which is dedicated to preserving the African American experience through first-hand accounts including photos, art, periodicals, and diaries.
Across the Golden State, support these great Black-owned businesses, too.