African NYC was traditionally in Harlem and at the other end of the “A” Train in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. But all of New York City is very African and Latin culture is very African. Africans and African Americans built our city and our country. Black history is American history.
Kids of All Ages Love the Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival 2021
nypl.org/blackcomicbookfestival 📚🎪 Wednesday- Saturday, January 13-16, 2021. FREE
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Black History Month is American History Month!
Monday, February 1, 2021 🌍 🇺🇸
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We struggle with our definitions of what is African. For example, is jazz from New Orleans, the Caribbean or Africa? It’s all of the above, and also has Arab and Indian (India) roots. Consider Machito and His Afro-Cubans, the band that defined Latin jazz and the first to promote that they were Black. Is Machito Cuban where he was born, American where he became famous, or English where he chose to live his last years? He is all of the above. Whether it’s on our African page or not, much of our coverage is about culture that is originally African.
We are grateful and proud of the Black Lives Matter organization. Their hard work and sacrifice has changed the conversation in ways that we dreamed of, but never expected to see in our lifetimes. It’s on all of us together now to turn protest into good policy.
Celebrate Yoruba New Year
Thursday, June 3, 2021 🇳🇬 🇧🇯
I Have the Same Dream As You Rev. Dr. King
Saturday, August 28, 2021 🇺🇸
African Festivals NYC
African festivals in New York City include: African American Day Parade, Harlem Week, West Indian Day Parade, Afropunk, Afro-Latino Festival, AfriBembé, Harlem Havana, Black Comic Book Festival and many more. Juneteenth is now a holiday.
Kids of All Ages Love the Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival 2021
nypl.org/blackcomicbookfestival 📚🎪 Wednesday- Saturday, January 13-16, 2021. FREE
Continue Reading Kids of All Ages Love the Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival 2021
Black History Month is American History Month!
Monday, February 1, 2021 🌍 🇺🇸
Continue Reading Black History Month is American History Month!
Celebrate Haitian Flag Day and the Unity of African and Creole Peoples
LITTLE HAITI 🇭🇹 Flatbush, Brooklyn | Tuesday, May 18, 2021
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Celebrate Kwanzaa, the African American Holiday Tradition!
Sunday, December 26, 2021 – January 1, 2022
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The 2020 AfriBembé Festival Honors Oshun Virtually
Saturday, September 19, 2020 from 2-8pm CCCADI.ORG FREE 🇨🇴 🇩🇴 🇭🇹 🇵🇦 🇵🇷 🇹🇹 🇺🇸
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The 46th Harlem Week & The Harlem Music Festival Go Virtual Together in 2020
Sunday-Sunday, August 16-23, 2020 HARLEM, New York City
Continue Reading The 46th Harlem Week & The Harlem Music Festival Go Virtual Together in 2020
To See the World Through the Eyes of a Child at the Harlem Silent Parade 2020
Tuesday, July 28, 2020 sugarhillmuseum.org – In place of the Children’s March for Justice
Continue Reading To See the World Through the Eyes of a Child at the Harlem Silent Parade 2020
Celebrate the 42nd DanceAfrica 2020 Virtually
May 17 – July 7, 2020 Virtual on BAM.ORG
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Black Comic Book Festival 2020
Friday-Saturday, January 17-18, 2020 SCHOMBURG CENTER Harlem, NYC
African American Day Parade 2019
Sunday, September 15, 2019 HARLEM, NYC ~ Melba Moore and the Orange Crush Roaring Lion Marching Band of Lincoln University lead the parade on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd
West Indian Day Parade 2019
Thu-Mon, Aug 29-Sep 2, 2019 LABOR DAY WEEKEND Reggae Afrobeats Soca Summer Jam Youth Fest BrassFest Junior Carnival Parade Panorama Steelband Championship Dimanche Gras Carnival Sunday Party VIP Breakfast Parade CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn ~ The Brooklyn Museum and the Parade on Eastern Avenue turns the neighborhood into a Caribbean Carnival
Two days of Afropunk show more style than Fashion Week
Sat-Sun, August 24-25, 2019 COMMODORE BARRY PARK Fort Greene, Brooklyn Jill Scott, FKA Twigs, Leon Bridges and Kamasi Washington, about 40 more artists and a street fashion show with 70,000 models.
Continue Reading Two days of Afropunk show more style than Fashion Week
AfriBembé Festival 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019 EAST HARLEM ART PARK, NYC 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇭🇹 🇬🇳 🇭🇳 🇲🇱 🇵🇷 🇺🇸
Afro-Latino Festival 2019
Fri-Sat, July 12-13, 2019 DOWNTOWN, Brooklyn
African New York City
“New York is a secret African city.”
Robert Farris Thompson, American historian at Yale University
In the beginning, New York City was built by Africans. The first Africans were brought to New Amsterdam by the Dutch in 1626. They were forced to build the wall on Wall Street which became a place where you could buy and sell humans. The first official human auction was in 1655. A human market was set up at the corner of Wall and Pearl Streets in 1711.
New York’s traditional African neighborhoods are Harlem in Manhattan, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. Take the (A) train between them. A is for Africa.
Manhattan has had many Little Africas. Currently it is on 116th St west of Fifth Avenue. The Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market is a great place to buy West African products.
East of Fifth Avenue, 116th St becomes the main street of El Barrio Spanish Harlem. Black and Latin are two sides of the same coin.
The Brooklyn Museum is Reopening
Saturday, September 12 PROSPECT PARK, Brooklyn
Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI)
Tuesday-Friday EL BARRIO, EAST HARLEM, NYC – Preserves and promotes the culture of Africa and the African diaspora – whether African, African-American, Afro-Latino or Afro-Caribbean.
Continue Reading Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI)
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
JOAN WEIL CENTER FOR DANCE Hell’s Kitchen, NYC – The African-American modern dance company that popularized modern dance around the world, performs at New York City Center in fall and the David H. Koch Theater in spring.
Ginny’s Supper Club
Thursday-Sunday HARLEM, NYC – A jazz cellar bar at the Red Rooster, Marcus Samuelsson’s famous restaurant in Harlem.
Apollo Theater
HARLEM, NYC ~ The soul of Harlem. Wednesdays are Amateur Night at The Apollo!
Jazz at Lincoln Center
COLUMBUS CIRCLE, NYC – The world’s leading jazz institution. – ¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!
Dizzy’s Club
COLUMBUS CIRCLE, NYC Jazz supper club overlooking Central park swings nightly at Jazz at Lincoln Center ~ ¡New York Latin Culture Sponsor!
Africa Center
Closed Mondays EAST HARLEM ~ A center for dialogue on policy, business and the culture of Africa and the African diaspora
Schomburg Center
Monday-Saturday HARLEM, NYC This library of African culture grew out of the literary collection of Puerto Rican collector Arturo Alfonso Schomburg during the Harlem Renaissance
Dance Theatre of Harlem
HAMILTON HEIGHTS, NYC ~ This fine ballet company and ballet school has superb African, Brazilian, Creole and Cuban dancers
Harlem
The soul of New York City is at the Apollo Theater, Ginny’s at the Red Rooster, Minton’s Playhouse, Paris Blues and around
African New Yorkers
What makes someone a New Yorker? When you’re here, you are a New Yorker.
Cuban American Composer and Conductor Tania León Gives a Master Class
Friday, July 31, 2020 at 1pm nationalsawdust.org FREE
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Leyla McCalla Connects Country Music to its Caribbean Roots
Wednesday, April 1, 2020 GINNY’S SUPPER CLUB Harlem, NYC
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The African World
The African world includes Africans in Africa and the diaspora in the Americas and Europe.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, We Have the Same Dream
Saturday, January 15, 2022 🇺🇸
Continue Reading Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, We Have the Same Dream
Angélique Kidjo Remains in Light
Friday, June 26, 2020 NYCSUMMERSTAGE YOUTUBE
Cie Hervé KOUBI 2020
Tue-Sun, February 18-23, 2020 JOYCE THEATER Chelsea, NYC – The Algerian-French contemporary dance company celebrates its 20th anniversary with a Mediterranean journey through our common humanity.
African Culture
The appropriation of Black culture is very real. Most American popular culture is African diaspora culture, so much in fact that if it somehow got taken away, we wouldn’t recognize ourselves. Many Americans have no idea where our traditions come from, but without the African diaspora, we wouldn’t have march, gospel, blues, jazz, country, rock, salsa, hip-hop or reggaeton. Whatever the next big thing is, it is probably developing right now in New York’s Black and Latin communities.
Carnival 2021 is Cancelled for COVID
Wednesday-Tuesday, February 10-16, 2021 🥳
Children Marched for Justice in the Harlem Silent Parade 104 years ago
HARLEM, NYC 🇺🇸 Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Continue Reading Children Marched for Justice in the Harlem Silent Parade 104 years ago
Celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Regla!
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 🇨🇺 🇪🇸 🇵🇭
Celebrate International Coffee Day!
Friday, October 1, 2021 🇪🇹 | 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇭🇳 🇺🇬 🇲🇽 🇬🇹
Celebrate Candombe Day!
Friday, December 3, 2021 🇺🇾
Celebrate International Tango Day!
Saturday, December 11, 2021 🇦🇷 🇺🇾 🇫🇷
Say Goodbye to Diego Obregon Colombian Pacific Coast Marimba Master
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 7pm FLUSHING TOWN HALL FACEBOOK FREE – Martin Vejarano La Cumbiamba Grupo Rebolú Folklore Urbano Sebastián Cruz NYC Gaita Club Harold Gutierrez Freddy Castiblanco
Continue Reading Say Goodbye to Diego Obregon Colombian Pacific Coast Marimba Master
Grupo Rebolú, Afro-Colombian Caribbean Dance Music
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 DIEGO OBREGON TRIBUTE FLUSHING TOWN HALL FACEBOOK LIVESTREAM FREE
Continue Reading Grupo Rebolú, Afro-Colombian Caribbean Dance Music
Dance Theatre of Harlem Premieres Geoffrey Holder’s Trinidadian Ballet “Dougla” Online
ONLINE Through August 2, 2020 PREMIERE Sat, July 25 at 8pm TALKS & WORKSHOPS Wed-Sat, July 22-25, 2020 DTH SOCIAL CHANNELS
Caribbean Cultural Center teaches Afro-Cuban Plant and Herb Traditions
Thursdays, April 16, 23, 30 & May 7, 2020 ZOOM CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER AFRICAN DIASPORA INSTITUTE El Barrio, East Harlem – Oba Frank Bell leads a webinar on Integral Plants & Herbs in Afro-Cuban Orisha & Palo Traditions. FREE
Continue Reading Caribbean Cultural Center teaches Afro-Cuban Plant and Herb Traditions
Bulla en el Barrio Carries on the Colombian Bullerengue Women’s Tradition
Friday, March 13, 2020 BARBÈS: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Continue Reading Bulla en el Barrio Carries on the Colombian Bullerengue Women’s Tradition
Betsayda Machado y Parranda El Clavo
Saturday, February 29, 2020 Afro-Peruvian tambor jams with Jewish klezmer.
Los Pleneros de la 21
Wed, December 18, 2019 JULIA DE BURGOS CENTER El Barrio, East Harlem, NYC Celebrate Christmas Puerto Rican style with a bomba and plena Parranda cycle ¡WEPA!
Reggaeton
Latin rap, by the Jamaican diaspora in Panama, jumped to New York, and developed in Puerto Rico before going worldwide. Colombians are making great reggaeton now too. “Tu Pun Pun, mami-mami, no…”
The African Diaspora
The beginning of African American culture, in what became the United States, was Congo Square (Place Congo, 1718 to 1850s) in French New Orleans.
Africa is a huge and very diverse continent. A U.S. education tends to treat it as a monolith, but Africa is bursting with rich and unique cultures.
We are aware of four African culture groups that are related, but unique in their own ways.
- There is the African culture of Africa. There are many different cultures and many great ancient civilizations in Africa.
- There is the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America. It’s blended with the culture of Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and English colonizers. It’s everywhere in Latin America, even in places you don’t think have African culture, and is celebrated by people who you wouldn’t think of as African.
- There is the African Diaspora in the United States which developed from Congo Square into most American popular culture. Regardless of your heritage, African culture is an inseparable part of who we are as Americans of the United States.
- There is the African Diaspora in Europe. Less than nine miles separates the two continents so there has always been a lot mixing in both directions. More recently, the children of colonizers went home to Europe.
Regardless of the heritage of the performers, gospel, blues, jazz, swing, country, rock, disco, hip-hop, salsa, reggaeton and Latin trap are mostly African culture through the Caribbean. Popular culture of the United States is really African.
We need to talk about faith too. Islam and Orisha faiths are faiths of Africa. They have been demonized by colonizers, but it’s wrong. There are no demons, only demonizers. These are faiths like all the others. In the Medieval Era, Islamic culture was more advanced than European culture, so Europeans copied a lot from the Islamic world. Orisha faiths have many similarities with the ancient Greek faiths and Indigenous faiths around the world. Indigenous faiths are based on nature.
The “good trouble” across our country now is unfinished business from our colonial past. It’s long past time to decolonize our own heads and cherish the richness of African culture in the United States and around the world. It’s an important part of who we are.
Africa is mother and Beyoncé is right: “Black is King.”
Black Lives Matter
Thank you Black Lives Matter for your courage and persistence. To get more real, lasting change, we need to put all this energy into voting and the census (vote.org).
Reevaluating every way we represent African culture is forcing us to decolonize our own heads. Each thing we change reveals something else we need to change. We are working on it.
From the Editor
Africa is mother, the mother of all humanity. So literally, if you are not African, you are not human.
If you’re not African, you’re not human”
Keith Widyolar, Editor-in-Chief, New York Latin Culture Magazine (2018)
African culture is a difficult topic because Latin culture in the Americas and even in Europe has a lot of African in it. In the truest sense, most of our coverage is African culture – even if we don’t call it that. Language and our U.S. cultural training fail us.
African culture dominates U.S popular culture. Puerto Rican salsa and Latin jazz legend Eddie Palmieri nailed it when he said at the 92nd Street Y, “The Spaniard brought the African and the African put everyone to dance. In the United States, they took away the drum and we got the blues.”
“The Spaniard brought the African and the African put everyone to dance. In the United States, they took away the drum and we got the blues.”
Eddie Palmieri at the 92nd Street Y
The blues is the root of American music of the United States. Jazz, country music, rock and everything that followed are built on the blues. In a way, much of the United States was built on the blues. Wall Street was literally built on the blues at the corner of Pearl St. African spirit cannot be broken.
A U.S. education doesn’t teach us much about Africa. It’s treated as a monolith, though Africa is a very diverse continent. If Spain and Portugal are mother countries, then so are African nations from Senegal to Angola and really all of coastal Africa. The stories just haven’t been told well.
As Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute once said at the Avalon Ballroom in Harlem, “We have to tell our own stories because nobody else will.”
“We have to tell our own stories because nobody else will.”
Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, CCCADI
Forgive our ignorance. Our education failed us, but we want to know better. We want to tell these stories, because they are our stories too.
Keith Widyolar, Editor-in-Chief
African-American Culture is Mostly Caribbean, and Caribbean Culture is Mostly African
“You may write me down in history
with your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”
Maya Angelou, from Still I Rise, 1978