Just before we welcomed February on Martha’s Vineyard, we were blanketed with the most snow the Island has seen in a very long time. This is typically the quietest month of the year for us anyway, but the severe weather forced us into a time of rest and reflection.
…for 24 hours and then we had to work together to uncover ourselves from the 12 inches of winter wonderland. And work together we did–the scene on our street of neighbors helping neighbors is one I continued to see on most streets throughout the Island.
This altruism and respect for one another is fitting, as February holds both Black History Month and Valentine’s Day. At first glance, one may feel heavy while the other feels light. One asks us to remember struggle, injustice, and resilience; the other invites sweetness, romance, and affection. But these observances are not opposites. They are companions. Because at the heart of Black history—on this Island and beyond—is love. Love as resistance. Love as preservation. Love as the quiet, daily choice to care for one another when systems failed to do so. And on the Vineyard, love has always been a communal act.
Long before February was marked on calendars as a time of remembrance, black families were shaping the Island through care, craftsmanship, faith, labor, and leadership. They built homes, ran businesses, taught children, cooked meals, healed neighbors, and carved out spaces of belonging in a world that often denied them one. Their love was not always loud. It did not always come wrapped in celebration. But it endured—and because it endured, so did the community.
Black History Month invites us to look back, but it also asks us to look around. To recognize the ways Black history is not confined to museums or textbooks, but lives in kitchens, churches, barbershops, beaches, and front porches. It lives in the stories passed down quietly, the recipes perfected over decades, and the traditions held with care.
This Island has long been a place where Black joy, creativity, and refuge found room to breathe. A place where families returned summer after summer, generation after generation—not just to vacation, but to reconnect with something deeper; a sense of safety, a sense of ownership, and a sense of being seen.
Valentine’s Day tends to focus our attention more inward: on romance, on partnerships, on hearts and gestures and cards. But love is broader than roses and reservations. Love is communal. It is historical. It is the decision to show up—for your family, your neighbors and your town—even when it would be easier not to. Love looks like mentorship. It looks like storytelling. It looks like creating space for the next generation to thrive. It looks like remembering.
When we honor Black history, we are honoring the love that carried people through unimaginable hardship. The love that said: we belong here, too. On the Vineyard, that love shaped neighborhoods, seasonal rhythms, and cultural life in ways that continue to ripple outward.
And when we celebrate Valentine’s Day, we are participating—whether we realize it or not—in that same tradition of care. We are choosing connection over isolation, warmth over distance, and presence over passivity. February asks us to do both at once. And there is something powerful about this overlap: a month that reminds us love is not passive or simple, but layered and earned. That love can be romantic, but it can also be ancestral.
Black history is full of love stories that rarely get told. Not just stories of famous figures, but of everyday people who loved deeply in the face of uncertainty. Parents who loved their children enough to imagine better futures. Partners who loved each other enough to build lives despite barriers. Communities who loved themselves enough to insist on joy. And that insistence matters. Now more than ever.
History is the foundation of humanity, and it is cyclical until the collective pays attention, notices the patterns of oppression, and insists on change.
While the local events calendar is relatively quiet this time of year, there are two incredibly meaningful happenings I want to highlight:
Each February, a coalition of Island organizations—including the LWV-MV, NAACP, ASALH, the MV Diversity Coalition, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, and leadership from one of the Island’s local libraries—comes together to create a meaningful program in honor of Black History Month. This year’s event will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Edgartown Library. Organized by Lorna Andrade, Marie Araujo, and Thelma Johnson, the program promises to be both engaging and thought-provoking. Attendees will view the PBS documentary Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, followed by a panel discussion featuring historians, educators, and members of the medical community. A two-minute preview of the film, hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is available to watch in advance. A potluck brunch will also be shared during the event. Be sure to mark your calendar for this important community gathering. For more information, contact the LWV-MV at info@leagueofwomenvotersmv.org.
Additionally, attorney Rachel Self, a Chappaquiddick resident deeply involved in family immigration advocacy, will lead a brief workshop on ways to support and protect immigrants on Martha’s Vineyard on February 1, immediately following the regular Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard Service. The workshop is open to all and will begin after the post-service social hour and refreshments. Rachel is the founder of Rachel M. Self, P.C., where she represents clients in both criminal and immigration cases. In the fall of 2022, after 49 migrants were unlawfully transported to Martha’s Vineyard, she played a key role in mobilizing local agencies to provide support. She also helped coordinate criminal investigations for all affected individuals with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department in Texas, leading to U visa certifications for each of the 49 victims. Her work has received widespread national attention, including coverage by 60 Minutes, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Trevor Noah’s Turning Point documentary Martha’s Vineyard vs. DeSantis, and an Honorable Mention as Bostonian of the Year 2022 from Boston Globe Magazine.
As we move through February—through snowstorms and stillness, remembrance and romance—we are invited to practice love with intention. Love thy legacy, and honor the rich black history this Island holds. Love thy neighbor, and show up for the events honoring impact, and the businesses that are minority owned. And most importantly, love thy Vineyard, and celebrate the community we are so fortunate to share all year long.
This article is published as a part of The Grapevine–a monthly email newsletter dedicated to our local events and culinary scene. Click here to subscribe to the Grapevine.