August 22: Celebrate 401 years of African American History at the First African Landing VT Commemoration
The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance and the New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church are pleased to present the second annual First African Landing Vermont Commemoration in Vermont on Saturday, August 22 from 2-6pm. The event will be live streamed from Burlington, Vermont.
The event serves to recognize the 401st anniversary of the landing of the first enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America at Point Comfort in 1619. It will feature a commemorative ceremony of storytelling, dance, drumming, musical performances, and more.
Click here to learn more and see the agenda for the event!
Access the live stream here on August 22, beginning at 2pm:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/FirstAfricanLandingVT/videos/
We are honored to welcome Keynote Speaker Dr. Wanda Heading Grant, Vice President, Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Vermont. We will also be featuring Vermont-based artists Kerubo, Rajnii Eddins (pictured), and headline band The Junketeers, among many others.
All proceeds will go to the Building Fund of New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church, the only church in Vermont that worships in the African American Tradition.
We are looking for sponsors.
Click here to make a supporting gift!
As recorded by English colonist John Rolfe, the arrival of “20 and odd” African men and women in late August 1619 was a pivotal moment in the nation’s history. These Africans were stolen by English privateers from a Spanish slave ship and brought to Point Comfort on a ship called the White Lion. They were the first Africans to be brought to English North America.
Though this second annual African Landing Day Commemoration does not celebrate the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the first Africans to our shores, it serves as a marker in history that shines a light on the incredibly powerful 401-year journey, and offers some hope in the continued struggle to dismantle the systems of oppression created by the original sin.
Please join in this important work with your support in sponsoring this event. You can choose from three options of sponsorship.
We hope you will virtually attend this incredible line-up on August 22!