A new Central Florida branch of the National Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH, Inc.) is having a Founder’s Day Celebration at Valencia College on Sept. 8, 2017, in partnership with Valencia College’s African Heritage Committee (VAHC).

Founded in 1915 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, ASALH is dedicated to continuing his mission of promoting, researching, preserving, interpreting, and disseminating information about black life, history, and culture to the global community.

The late Dr. Carter G. Woodson was the second African American to earn a doctorate at Harvard. He received his Ph.D. in 1912. He is also recognized as the founder of Black History Month,  the successor to Negro History Week which he founded in 1926. 

The Central Florida branch will serve Orange, Brevard, Lake, Osceola, Polk and Seminole counties. It is named in memory of the late Dorothy Turner Johnson, a longtime librarian who inspired many others with her love of learning.

Capt. Winston E. Scott, a former NASA astronaut, will be the keynote speaker at the September 8 program, which will also include a panel discussion titled “The Crisis in the Black Education/American Education: The Reality of Shifting Paradigms and Future Career Opportunities in STEM.”

For more information, please contact the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Central Florida branch at asalhcentralfl@gmail.com.

To learn more about the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH, Inc.), visit the nonprofit organization’s website at www.asalh.org

This event is free and open to the public.