Cooperation Jackson Presents “The Black August” Community Arts Festival
Theme: Black Resistance and Self-Determination
Where: Ida B. Wells Plaza 1128 West Capitol Street, Jackson, MS 39203
When:
Saturday, August 17th 10 am - 10 pm
Sunday, August 18th 12pm-6pm
Cooperation Jackson is proud to announce that we will be hosting our second Community Arts Festival this year, the Black August Community Arts Festival in honor of Black August. Black August is a month of commemoration and resistance for people of African descent.
The Black August Festival will be held at the Ida B. Wells Plaza, formerly known as the West Park Plaza, located at the corner of W. Capitol and Monument Streets in West Jackson. The Black August Community Arts Festival will serve as the official renaming of the Plaza.
The festival will be centered around the production of several graphic arts murals on the outside of the plaza and the inside of the grocery unit. In addition to the graphic arts murals, the festival will also include: A free BBQ cookout A Farmers Market Arts and Crafts vendors A Flea Market DJ’s Play areas for kids Arts activities for kids and the larger community. The Art will be included in our next Art House and Tech House exhibit event Movies about Black August history and practice
Black August is a month of commemoration and resistance for people of African descent. The practice of Black August - which entails engaging in committed political activity, fasting from sun-up to sun down, community study, and community sharing - started in the California Prison System in the 1970’s to honor the courageous struggles and sacrifices of Black prisoners confronting white supremacy and oppression, like George Jackson and Khatari Gaulden. In the 1980’s the tradition and practice moved beyond the prison walls and expanded to commemorate the numerous acts of resistance committed by our ancestors over the centuries against the impositions of slavery, colonialism, and imperialism. Acts like: The launch of the Haitian revolution in August 1791 Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion in August 1800 The Nat Turner rebellion in August 1831 Henry Highland Garnett’s call to enslaved Africans to launch a General Strike against slavery in August 1843 The launch of the Underground Railroad network that supported Harriet Tubman in August 1850 The lynching of Emmett Till in Mississippi, and his mother, Mamie Bradley's defying act to have an open casket to educate the world in August 1955 The March On Washington in August 1963 The Watts Rebellion in August 1965 The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PG – RNA) defense of the republic’s offices from an FBI assault in Mississippi on August 1971 Assata Shakur liberated from Prison And more!!
Contact and Donate Information
Please join us in making the Black August Community Arts Festival a success. Join us in building and promoting it. You can help by becoming a sponsor, a promoter, or a vendor. To participate in this Festival please email us at CooperationJackson@gmail.com and list “Black August Community Arts Festival” in the email title and let us know how you want to be involved.
