Poetic Tongues/ by Fabu
Madison Poet Laureate
Madison Poet Laureate
Celebrating our Rich Contributions
Welcome to Juneteenth 2011 with the theme, Celebrating Our Rich Contributions. Juneteenth is a historical holiday that
celebrates the last African Americans being freed from slavery in Texas on June 19th. We all know that it is a time of recession
and the difficulty all over America with the weather only makes our situation feel worse. Why not come out and spend the day
smiling. The Juneteenth Celebration is the time when collectively enjoy our culture, meet our neighbors and learn even more
about this brilliant race, the African Americans. Juneteenth in Madison at Penn Park on Saturday, June 18 is great fun.
* Start off with the parade. Yes, you can meet at Fountain of Life Worship Center at 633 West Badger and march in a splendid
parade.
* Arrive at Penn Park and you have the option of participating in a walk or run or touring the information tables.
* Thirty minutes after the noon hour, make your way to the Main Tent, where Juneteenth is officially opened by a community elder,
proclamations are shared and a brilliant new work is performed. The new work will focus on Poetry by the Black man, from Africa
to America. Dr. Daniel Kunene starts the new work off representing South Africa with his own original poetry. Other poets join him
on stage and the new work ends with Spoken Work.
* Tents open at 1:30 pm. These tents are focused on Church, Children, Teens, Heritage and Entertainment. Free books and
activities for children are available. The Church is packed with activities to inspire our souls. The Teen Tent has been reorganized
to be even more teen friendly. The Heritage Tent focuses on fresh food with Farmer Robert Pierce, Farmer's Market expert Shayba
Pierce, Mama Cook Juanita Wilson and Chef Curtis Brown from UW Madison. There is all of the entertainment that you would ever
want to experience under the Entertainment Tent and the music ranges from Jazz to R&B and Soul.
* Take a walk from tent to tent and end up under the shelter with all the "old school" music, card games and good, clean fun.
* Vendors, vendors, vendors abound at Junteenth offering traditional soul food. No one can walk away hungry.
* Need to work the food off, there are basketball games going on throughout the day so stand on the sidelines, jump up and down
and cheer.
Juneteenth is an official Wisconsin holiday and hopefully will one day be a National holiday. Right now it is the largest event that
African Americans attend in Madison and it is great family fun. Come out and support this free event. Come out and applaud the
organizers, partners and Juneteenth committee members who make sure that Madison has an annual celebration of freedom,
called Juneteenth that celebrates the rich contributions of Black people.
Welcome to Juneteenth 2011 with the theme, Celebrating Our Rich Contributions. Juneteenth is a historical holiday that
celebrates the last African Americans being freed from slavery in Texas on June 19th. We all know that it is a time of recession
and the difficulty all over America with the weather only makes our situation feel worse. Why not come out and spend the day
smiling. The Juneteenth Celebration is the time when collectively enjoy our culture, meet our neighbors and learn even more
about this brilliant race, the African Americans. Juneteenth in Madison at Penn Park on Saturday, June 18 is great fun.
* Start off with the parade. Yes, you can meet at Fountain of Life Worship Center at 633 West Badger and march in a splendid
parade.
* Arrive at Penn Park and you have the option of participating in a walk or run or touring the information tables.
* Thirty minutes after the noon hour, make your way to the Main Tent, where Juneteenth is officially opened by a community elder,
proclamations are shared and a brilliant new work is performed. The new work will focus on Poetry by the Black man, from Africa
to America. Dr. Daniel Kunene starts the new work off representing South Africa with his own original poetry. Other poets join him
on stage and the new work ends with Spoken Work.
* Tents open at 1:30 pm. These tents are focused on Church, Children, Teens, Heritage and Entertainment. Free books and
activities for children are available. The Church is packed with activities to inspire our souls. The Teen Tent has been reorganized
to be even more teen friendly. The Heritage Tent focuses on fresh food with Farmer Robert Pierce, Farmer's Market expert Shayba
Pierce, Mama Cook Juanita Wilson and Chef Curtis Brown from UW Madison. There is all of the entertainment that you would ever
want to experience under the Entertainment Tent and the music ranges from Jazz to R&B and Soul.
* Take a walk from tent to tent and end up under the shelter with all the "old school" music, card games and good, clean fun.
* Vendors, vendors, vendors abound at Junteenth offering traditional soul food. No one can walk away hungry.
* Need to work the food off, there are basketball games going on throughout the day so stand on the sidelines, jump up and down
and cheer.
Juneteenth is an official Wisconsin holiday and hopefully will one day be a National holiday. Right now it is the largest event that
African Americans attend in Madison and it is great family fun. Come out and support this free event. Come out and applaud the
organizers, partners and Juneteenth committee members who make sure that Madison has an annual celebration of freedom,
called Juneteenth that celebrates the rich contributions of Black people.