Come visit Stratford Hall for First Africans Day, commemorating the enslaved Africans and African Americans who built and sustained Stratford Hall and the Lee family for generations. This will be a free, full day of remembering and honoring those enslaved at Stratford Hall and their descendants, through music, storytelling, special tours, and lectures.
Cemetery
10:00am - 10:45am: Opening Ceremony at the African American Cemetery
Historic Area
11:00am - 2:00pm: Historical Interpreters: Dontavius Williams, Willie Wright & Hope Wright, Harold Caldwell
11:00am - 12:00pm: Lecture by Joe McGill
12:00pm - 1:00pm: Music of the African Diaspora, SlamOne LLC
1:00pm - 2:00pm: African and African American Folktales and arts and crafts
2:00pm - 3:00pm: African Dance Demonstration: Kuumba Dance Ensemble Inc.
2:00pm - 4:00pm: Art Show with Artist, Ehi Obinyan, Available for Conversation
3:00pm - 3:45pm: Drum Circle, SlamOne LLC
4:00pm - 5:30pm: Open Mic and Storytelling in the Great House
6:00pm - 7:00pm: Closing Ceremony at the Riverfront
Oval
11:00am - 4:00pm: Food trucks and DJ
Stratford Hall brings together people from around the world to experience two-thousand acres of natural and human history, preserved and presented so that we can all learn from the courageous struggles of our ancestors, taking inspiration both from what they endured and what they accomplished. There are few places in America where people can travel down small, rural roads to arrive at a vast site that preserves so many aspects of early-American life, from the Great House where the influential Lee family helped to forge a new nation, to the fields worked by enslaved Africans, to the waters of the rivers that fueled trade, to the ground, which still yields secrets about the people and animals that lived before.
Come experience this extraordinary place and learn about a layered history that began millions of years ago - a history that continues to educate, inspire, and influence Americans to the present day.
Find more Stratford Hall Historic Preserve Events and Community & Culture events in Stratford