Letters

On behalf of the Southampton African American Museum, I would like to thank all who chose to come out in spite of the inclement weather conditions for our fifth annual Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 14, with the theme “Music Matters.”

The celebration started with one of my favorite bands, Certain Moves, the “Little Band With a Big Sound” (thank you, Charles Certain), accompanied by the soulful voice of Lisa Antrum.

“Music Matters” was exceptionally explored and shared with us during an awesome interview with Joe Lauro, the host of “American Grooves Radio Hour,” who took us into a deep dive of music in the 1920s to early 1940s, informing us about the untold history of the “race record” series, completely his collection, with a copy of the Reverend W.M. Mosley singing “Oh Death Spare Me Over Till Another Year,” part of the 800 “race record” series.

That was followed by astounding actress Ingrid Griffith, who shared a portion of her solo show “Shirley Chisholm: Unbossed and Unbowed,” called “A Timeless Reminder: The fight for work for the union representation in the workplace, from slavery to now.”

Ending the Juneteenth celebration with the dynamic soulful, smooth, eclectic, anointed, prolific and artistic singer/songwriter and nominee for Male Artist of the Year, Antoine Hilton, took us, without a doubt, to church, ending our fifth annual Juneteenth Celebration in high spirit of praise and the joyous oneness of unity and love.

Juneteenth-style food provided by H&S Catering Inc., and special thanks to my “bestest interns,” Kim and Kellen.

Last but not least, special thanks to philanthropist extraordinaire Jean Shafiroff for your continuous support.

Please check out our website for upcoming events and to book a tour, saamuseum.org. All are welcome.

Also, the museum’s Juneteenth celebration continued with a collaboration with the Southampton Playhouse and the Southampton Intermediate School. Shout out to Eric Kohn, artistic director at the Playhouse, for our continuous collaboration and the premiere screening of “Move Ya Body: Birth of House,” which was a documentary about house music, followed by a live interview by Eric Kohn, with Mago and myself.

And thanks to Principals Patrick Bentsen and Nick Epley for our Juneteenth celebration collaboration at the Southampton Intermediate School, with a hands-on experience learning about the importance of Juneteenth. Sitting around the circle, they were asked: Why is Juneteenth important? These sixth-graders gave a variety of heartfelt answers, but there was this one: “I think Juneteenth is important because it shouldn’t be repeated.”

Out of the mouths of babes.

Brenda Simmons

Founder & President

Southampton African American Museum