The month of February--African-American History Month--has a special meaning for my family. My dad, Dr. Keith E. Baird, was one of the pioneers in teaching African history and languages in New York City schools. Growing up, I spent many Saturdays in school classrooms in Harlem and at the Schomburg Library, listening to discussions about the history of Africans around the world and the value of sharing this history with others. In turn, my own children, from the time they were toddlers, came along to the family programs and workshops on African art and culture that I taught at the American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Children's Museum.

So, when February rolls around, we mark the occasion with a host of special family activities. In the kitchen, we make dishes from various parts of the African world, such as akara, a fritter made from black-eyed peas. And in celebration of our cultural traditions, we make African crafts, such as the decorative adire cloths and shekere percussion instrument you'll see on the following pages. These crafts and activities are fun, of course, but they're also something more: a memorable way to make African-American history and culture come alive.

Diana Baird N'Diaye is a program curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, D.C.