Saturday | July 15 | DAY 6
Happy #DouglassWeek 2023
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Happy #DouglassWeek 2023 〰️
DAY 6 - Our day was filled with lots of love from both old and new connections!
We started at the Frederick Douglass Community Library in Rochester and were joined by community members of all ages for three hours of fun: a talk by Douglass family members, an art installation, activity stations, opportunities to meet members of the Douglass family and more! We were then joined by local artist LaShonda Davis who talked about her installation of a multi-panel portrait of Frederick Douglass - we hope you can visit the library and see it in person, it is absolutely beautiful!
Very fittingly, we enjoyed a talk by historian Cecilia Hartsell who spoke about one of Douglass's most famous speeches: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" - a speech he gave here in Rochester and that, we believe, everyone should read! This talk guided us through the speech, and we look forward to learning more from Cecilia about Douglass's other speeches in the future.
And then... our main in-person event! It is hard to put into words the talent we were privy to watch on stage last night was truly remarkable! It is hard to put in words, how beautiful and unique this show was and that's why we are very happy that we will be able to share a professional recording and lots of photos with you very soon. You can watch some great snippets on our social media in the meantime! Paul Oakley Stovall, Nikhil Saboo, Yassmin Alers, Derrik Hester, Andre Dunwoody and members of Dunwoody Dance his dance group, PJ Pennewell of Garth Fagan Dance, Kenneth B. Morris, Jr., Richard Dollinger, and all others outdid themselves and were just INCREDIBLE!! We will share the link to recording with you as soon as it is ready!
Watch and rewatch everything that happened on DAY 6 on our YouTube channel!
LINKS TO ALL EVENTS (DAY 6):
"What to the Slave is the 5th of July?" by historian Cecilia Hartsell
Postponed: "Exception is not the rule" - We will let you know when we have found a new date/time!
All other recordings of in-person events will be shared as soon as we have them
Want to know what’s happening tomorrow?
Tomorrow is the last day of #DouglassWeek 2023!
We will start the day with our “Remembrance and Reflection at the Frederick Douglass Gravesite” event at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY. We will be joined by members of the Douglass family, the local and international community and dignitaries for remarks, readings and a contribution from The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery.
This year, for the third time, Barretstown and #DouglassWeek are partnering again for a special program:
A child-friendly online virtual exhibition on the parallel themes of #DouglassWeek and Barretstown, of inclusion, family support, kindness and humanity; including video content created at Barretstown and also by local Irish school children. In addition, you can watch the live-stream of the Ballymore Connect Choir performing in front of the castle at Barretstown, at their Open Day at on Sunday 16th July at 2.30pm Irish time. WATCH HERE.
Later on in the day, we will host a special Wild Ones Salon pop-up for #DouglassWeek, which will explore the role of family and community in activism. Wild Ones Salon is a space for intersectional feminist discussions. It was created in 2021 by Good Day Cork & Think Speak Do Community Engagement based in Cork, Ireland. Since the inception, the Salons discuss the themes of International Women’s Day and so this year the theme is Embrace Equity. Over the last two years, Good Day Cork has been hosting this space. The guest speaker is Fahmeda Naheed. Fahmeda will share her thoughts and there will be open discussions about this topic.
As an uplifting close to #DouglassWeek, some of our team members will recap this year’s event series and announce the location for #DouglassWeek 2024. As we always say, after #DouglassWeek is before #DouglassWeek! WATCH HERE.
If you can’t be there in person or a scheduled event does not suit your schedule, you may go to our YouTube channel and watch and rewatch all of our events!