RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE BROOKLYN AFRICAN DIASPORA

Wednesday, March 17, 6:30 - 8:30pm 
Brooklyn Historical Society 
128 Pierrepont St. (Brooklyn Heights) 
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s various events and ceremonies such as the African Art Fair, DanceAfrica, and the West Indian-American Labor Day Carnival Parade began as annual events that served as a magnet for the expression of African diasporic arts and culture in Brooklyn. In present day Brooklyn, there is a ritual calendar of events that reclaim and re-imagine African diasporic arts and culture from year to year. This calendar of events is central to Black Brooklyn Renaissance, providing an important way for Brooklyn's Black cultures to keep expanding and intersecting. Join us at the first panel discussion of its kind to bring these founders and cultural leaders together to share their history. Moderator: Kay Turner Panelists:

• Kwayera Archer-Cunningham: President and CEO, Ifetayo Cultural Arts

• Doris Green: African Dance Historian; one of the first teachers of African dance in Brooklyn

• Rahkiah Abdurahman: DanceAfrica Elder

• Tony Akeem: annual Tribute to the Ancestors at Coney Island

• Pam Green: Weeksville Heritage Center

• Joy Patel: 227 Abolitionist Place, annual Juneteenth Celebration

• Yolanda Lezama-Clark: annual West Indian American Day Parade and Juve

• Sekun Shabaka: International African Arts Festival

• Peggy Alston: Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's Annual Pre-Opening Ceremonies for DanceAfrica

• Brenda Greene: annual National Black Writers Conference

• Bob Myers: annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium/ Brooklyn Jazz Festival

Do you have a rites and ceremonies story to tell? Join us early at Brooklyn Historical Society from 4:30-6pm to record your story for the Black Brooklyn Renaissance archive.

Presented by BAC in conjunction with BHS. Free!