Juneteenth Week
Organizers plan a seven-day celebration to rejoice and educate African American heritage
By Tabitha Ervin
Of Fort Wayne Ink Spot
Recently I had the opportunity to connect via zoom with Adrian Curry of The Art Leadership Center to discuss the newly formed Juneteenth Collaborative who is hosting a week of events in honor of and to celebrate Juneteenth 2021.
Prior to last year, the event was hosted by Weisser Park Youth Center for 16 years. For the first six years under the supervisor Kweku Akan, and for the last 10 years the current supervisor Zynette Paige continued facilitating the event.
Last year (2020), due to the pandemic Weisser did not host the Community Juneteenth Celebration. And considering the public heightened racial injustice in our country, Zynette Paige felt it was time for the Juneteenth Celebration to be totally controlled by the African American community instead of Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation. At that time, since Curry participated in and understood the history and relevance of Juneteenth, Paige encouraged him to begin facilitating the celebration moving forward. (Editor’s note: In-person, Mr. Adrian Curry prefers being addressed as Mr. Curry as a sign of respect and professional cordiality; Ink Spot’s style policy to not use courtesy titles such as Mr., Mrs. or Ms.)
Juneteenth has been a big part of Curry’s life as his mother, Camille Curry and grandmother, Costella Mack were heavily involved at the Weisser Park Youth Center and assisting with the celebration when he was growing up. He participated as a youth every year setting up the event, performing spoken word, and performing with his students from Dono Ntoaso, Akoma and The Art Leadership Center.
“Juneteenth is about Unity” and as Curry looked to create an event this year, he decided to reach out to the elders and those organizations that facilitated Juneteenth events last year (2020), including Ladies Building Together, Bigger Than Us Inc., The Health Hut, as well as Black Women of Excellence.
“I could not move forward without the advice and consent from the Council of Elders,” said Curry.
He called everyone together and asked, “Do we want to have a unified Juneteenth Celebration?” And that is how the Juneteenth Collaborative formed to bring the 2021 celebration to life.
This year there will be a week-long celebration starting with the Elders Jubilee Brunch at Turner Chapel AME, the oldest African American church in Fort Wayne. The newly formed collaborative consists of over 30 organizations and 70 members, with a mission to connect leaders and organizations that embody a collective conscience for community welfare and events.
“This is bigger than us and we want to work together to celebrate and educate our community,” said Curry. “Juneteenth is about more than just the 1865 liberation of slaves in Texas which we can all find on google. Join us in working as a unified body to make the community a better place.”
On Saturday, June 19, The Art Leadership Center Promenade will start at 12:30 pm at Warsaw and Oxford to kick off the main event at McMillen Park from 2-6 pm. The Juneteenth Freedom Day Celebration is for all ages and most events are open and free to the public.
The hashtag for the event and the weeklong celebration is: #unityinthecommunity
All details and information can be found on the Juneteenth Fort Wayne 2021 Facebook page about how people can be vendors, volunteers, sponsors and entertainers or email requests to juneteenthcollaborative13@gmail.com.
Collaborative Organizations: African Hellenic Society, Allen County Young Democrats, Alyse Capital Group, American Legion, Big Momma’s Kitchen, Bigger Than Us Inc., Black Women of Excellence, Boss Lady Majorette Dance, Brain Geeks, Bring Black Up, Center for Nonviolence, Change Makers, Courageous Healing Inc., Elijah’s Bakery, Growing Lives Foundation, Growing Minds, Human Agricultural Co-Op, Humanity for the Win, Identity Counts Cultural Collective, InTune, Ladies Building Together, MLK Club, Moors in the Fort, NAACP, Omotayo, Optimistics Enterprise, Rezz Media, Rockaway Carriage, The Content Creators, Timothy Lymon Foundation, The Art Leadership Center, The Health Hut, Tygeron Graphics, Unity Barber Shop, Urban League, Urban Update.
