Black Heritage Day 2023, a review

In March of 2022 Tanesha and I took a walk around campus and started dreaming. Imagine a stage. Imagine kids running around, making chalk art on the sidwalk. Black business owners selling goods, bringing Dr. Brown’s commitment to entrepreneurship back to the grounds. Imagine bringing other historic sites and museums from around the state to share their Black history with our visitors. Over the course of the next year we worked to make that dream a reality, finding a wonderful partner in the Greensboro Opera, taking advice from our colleagues at the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and the President James K. Polk State Historic Site, and created Black Heritage Day: An Afro-Classical Celebration.

We decided to host the festival on June 10th, to honor Dr. Brown’s birthday. Every element of the program was rooted in Palmer. A school that hosted community festivals, farmers markets, invited community members to campus for entrepreneurial classes, and cultivated artists who went on to influence countless lives.

We’re so grateful to our community for showing up and showing out! We hosted nearly 600 visitors between 11am-3pm and appreciated every single one. We want to continue this program and to make it better every year so if you attended Black Heritage Day and want to review it, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/84vSvVkovr3gGN5p9.

Thanks to everyone who came! Black Heritage Day felt like a celebration. A celebration of music, food, history, and community. We can’t wait to do it all over next year! Thanks to Galen Draper for the photographs below.

— Liz Torres Melendez, Assistant Site Manager

[Left] Artist Elijah Miller working on his piece behind Canary Cottage. Massive thank you to DOSE Artist Collective for coordinating the Color Portal! [Center] Staff from the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice tabling in the Alice Freeman Palmer Plaza. [Right] Performers from the Otesha Creative Arts on stage.

[Left] The Peacorn Shop set up in our vendor fair area behind Kimball Hall. [Center] Performers from the Otesha Creative Arts on the steps of Galen Stone Hall. [Right] Visitors lining up for food from Fresh AF Vegan food truck.

[Left] Visitors lining up for food from Sweet’s Turkey BBQ & Catering food truck. [Right] Kids enjoying the bubble machine in the Kids Zone.

[Left] Headliners Forropera and Davi Vieira performing on stage. [Right] Visitors lounging at a picnic table on the grounds.