A two-part public program examining Black queer history, public art, migration and community memory will take place on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 12:00pm to 4:00pm at Weeksville Heritage Center in Crown Heights.
Titled Black Queer Legacies from Harlem to Weeksville, the event draws inspiration from The Gay Harlem Renaissance exhibition, currently on view at the New York Historical. The program traces connections between early 20th-century queer artists in Harlem and the living histories of Brooklyn communities, including Kingsborough Houses and historic Weeksville.
The event is presented by the American LGBTQ+ Museum, Weeksville Heritage Center, New York Historical and the Public Housing Community Fund.
The afternoon begins with a performance by curator and choreographer Rashida Bumbray, inspired by sculptor Richmond Barthé’s frieze Exodus and Dance. The performance considers the frieze as a site of memory and embodiment, reflecting on Barthé’s legacy as a Black queer artist and the role of public art in preserving cultural history.
Following the performance, attendees will take part in a series of salon-style panel discussions featuring historians, artists, curators, writers, archivists and cultural workers.
The first conversation, Living for the City: Black Migration from the Outset of the Harlem Renaissance, explores migration patterns between Harlem and Brooklyn in the early 20th century. Moderated by historian Prithi Kanakamedala, the panel includes Allison Robinson and Anne Lessy, curators of The Gay Harlem Renaissance; Carla J. DuBose-Simons of SUNY Westchester Community College; Dominique Jean-Louis of the Center for Brooklyn History; and writer and educator Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts.
Panelists will examine how housing, employment, transit and cultural life shaped movement to neighborhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Weeksville.
The second panel, We Are the Record: Oral Histories and the Black Storytelling Tradition, focuses on oral history as both scholarship and community practice. Moderated by Saijah Williams of the Public Housing Community Fund, the discussion features Madeline Grace Alexander of Columbia University, Faith Robinson of BedStuy Forever, memory worker Zakiya Collier and Michael Gaines of the Kingsborough Oral History Project. Speakers will explore oral history as a tool for preservation, public memory and community building.
The final panel, Black Contemporary Artists, Creatives & Community-Builders, highlights the work of present-day Black artists and cultural workers. Moderated by Dejá Aaliyah Belardo of The Shed, the panel features Ayesha Williams of the Laundromat Project, Tiffany Dockery of Gladys Books & Wine and Rashida Bumbray. The discussion centers on art in public space, creative practice as community care and the ongoing contributions of Black and LGBTQ+ creatives.
