Greater Lafayette Juneteenth Celebration of Liberation

Event Details

Juneteenth Celebration Greater Lafayette will honor the past and embrace the future through programs that spark conversation around the struggles, resilience and triumphs of the Black community. This year’s programming features the following interactive workshops and discussions.

• “From Slave to Solider”: A discussion around the impact of drumming circles and meditations communities of the African diaspora. This session features a collaboration between Toussaint Liberator and Dr. Nolan Warden as they explore West African and Afro-Cuban rhythms that have made their way into American culture. Tapping into the ancestors’ book of medicine and applying it to our modern lives is at the heart of this work.
• “The Rudiments of SuPre”: Boyd Smith is the first African-American to operate an art gallery in his hometown. He has utilized academic frameworks to merge art and technology to explain cultural realities. In 2017 he completed his master’s thesis, titled “The Rudiments of SuPre,” which brought attention to the long-documented history of racial injustice in our contemporary art moment. Smith returns to the greater Lafayette area to lead a workshop in mixed media art techniques for local youth and leading a discussion around positive self imagery.
• “Loctician Competition”: Watch local hair stylists at work onstage as Kadari Taylor-Watson facilitates conversations around the politics of Black hair. Taylor-Watson is the recipient of the Trailblazer Award for her leadership in expanding the sport of figure skating to underrepresented communities. She’s also a doctoral student at Purdue University where her work explores the importance of African print clothing as a tool for self-determination, community and healing for Black women in the United States and Ghana, West Africa. Taylor-Watson has been active in the Black Graduate Student Association and the Black Culture Center at Purdue and started the organization Hairitage, a community program aimed at empowering young girls of colors to love and embrace their natural hair.

For more information, email juneteenthcelebrationgl@gmail.com.

This program received support from an Indiana Humanities Action Grant.