A celebration of black superheroism met with great reception at Morgan Memorial Library last week.

The “Black and Super: African-American History in Comics” event celebrated black superheroes of comics, movies and television with craft projects, games, vendors and more. Black superheroes like Luke Cage, Blade, Vixen and Black Lightning were featured. A writing contest accepted submissions prior to the event asking young writers to imagine what they would do if they had superpowers, what those powers were, how they got them and where they would use them.

With that event happening recently and this being Black History Month, it seems appropriate that the 91st Academy Awards are set to be given this weekend, and that last year’s legendary superhero film “Black Panther” is nominated in seven categories, including Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

This event was a great way to bring attention to a part of the comics world that deserves more credence from the wider community. The “Black Panther” film helped bring a lot of attention to this niche, but there are many other black superheroes that kids of all ages and all races can turn to for stories of what it truly means to be “black and super.”

Recent years have brought a lot of awareness that young black children need to see strong, positive characters in their entertainment that look like them. Traditional books, movies and television get much of the attention in this realm, but we believe comics have been leading the way in this endeavor.

The library did an excellent job planning this event among its Black History Month offerings.