Manasota ASALH, Inc.

                              Our History

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History Month, founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) on September 9, 1915.

Manasota ASALH was founded in 1996 and is the largest of the fifty branches that comprise the national ASALH network. Our members are residents of Bradenton and Sarasota and the surrounding communities, as well as an increasing number of institutional partners. Our Mission is to promote, research, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information on Black life, history, and culture to the global community. We welcome all who wish to join us in this important work. Our active Board of Trustees meets every month with the goal to continue our commitment to our community by introducing new and creative ideas to further our mission. Each month for our meeting a "Moment in History" is presented which features an outstanding speaker to highlight an important and interesting event from our history.  Our Education Committee researches and presents each month a program on Zoom to feature a historical event or speaker.  Our Arts & Culture Committee informs us of current and future events that are available for our members. We are presently planning our Freedom School project for the second year after our pilot program was so successful last year.  Engaging teachers from the local schools to teach our young children about our history each week for an eight-week period proved to be a more than worthwhile endeavor. 

In addition, we conduct fundraisers to support our scholarship program and all other programs which are solely supported by our donors. For 12 years of documented records, we have given out 265 scholarships to African American high school students and over 500 scholarships for the past twenty years.  Our Scholarship program is our pride & joy! Your support is very much appreciated.