There is perhaps no better way for the Southampton African American Museum to mark its second anniversary than with a weekend-long Juneteenth celebration — commemorating the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War — starting Friday, June 17.
At 6 p.m., the festivities will kick off with a performance by flutist Dwayne Kerr, followed by a keynote lecture by award-winning author A’Lelia Bundles. She will discuss several generations of extraordinary women in her family, including her great-great-grandmother, Madam C.J. Walker, a pioneering entrepreneur and the subject of Bundles’s book, “On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker.” Named a New York Times “Notable Book,” the biography inspired the four-part Netflix series, “Self Made,” starring Octavia Spencer.
The author is currently at work on “The Joy Goddess of Harlem: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance,” a biography of her great-grandmother — a Harlem Renaissance icon whose parties, arts patronage and travels helped define an era. A book signing and reception will follow, sponsored by Sun River.
On Saturday, June 18, the celebration will continue from noon to 5 p.m. with a barbecue catered by Heart and Soul, as well as performances by Stephen Sylvester and the Rum Punch Mafia-Roots Rock Reggae, and Halo, an all-Black female barbershop ensemble from Washington, D.C., who also will lead a discussion “Race and Real Talk.”
For more information, visit saamuseum.org.
Michelle Trauring on Jun 15, 2022