Photo Credit: Lauren Miller
Four hundred years ago, the first Africans were brought to America as servants, and 20 or so of them disembarked in Jamestown, Va.; the course of history changed that very day. To commemorate this event, Rev. Jeffrey Powell (JP) and Shelia Payton (SP) have been working since October 2018 to coordinate citywide efforts from numerous organizations. This includes events by Black Arts MKE, Bronzeville Arts Ensemble, Black Inventors Gallery, the Milwaukee Art Museum and many more. Off the Cuff caught up with the organizers to discuss the commemoration.
What motivated you to commemorate this event in particular?
JP: The Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years, and they had the promise that God would lead them and do something good for them. If we are to trust and believe that a change will come for African Americans, what is it that we need to do in order to be prepared for that change? I think part of that is revisiting where we come from—taking a very critical look at where we are and planning to go forward into the future—hopefully into a new 400 years that will give us much better results that what we’ve had so far in this country.
What form does the commemoration take?
SP: Initially, it was supposed to be a week-long commemoration. As I was making a list of organizations and institutions that have resources and experience fitting our expectations, I realized that we had enough people to expand into a year-long commemoration.
We want to focus not only on what happened between the 1600s and the present, not just on the arrival and the challenges that people faced afterward, but also talk about the contributions, the impact and the influence that people of African descent have had on the world. The idea from the very beginning involved making a citywide effort towards cultural exposure.
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There are many different types of contributions to the commemoration, and that is intentional. You don’t want to have just one note played in a symphony, so we let each organization play the notes that they play well, and that gives people multiple opportunities to explore the contributions and impact of African Americans on this country.
Can you share some highlights of the program?
SP: The arts can bring people together who might otherwise not come together. So, I thought about the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum, the Milwaukee Public Library System, etc., which are institutions that have the resources and in the past had programming that would have fit the commemoration.
In addition, there is the Black Holocaust Museum, which was founded by the only known person to have survived a lynching. We think the museum can generate a conversation among people from various backgrounds, help them to think about their interactions with each other, the commonalities of human beings and bridging the gap so that horrors like lynchings never happen again. There are others like the Black Historical Society, which focuses on the history of African Americans in Wisconsin, Ko-Thi Dance Company that celebrates art from the African diaspora and more.
JP: This is our message. This is what we achieved in the last 400 years, and we expect to achieve much more in the future.
For more information and a calendar of events, visit stmarkame.org/1619-and-beyond.
