FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 1, 2010
Contact: Brian Loadholtz, Park Ranger, brian_loadholtz@nps.gov
12th Annual Kingsley
(Note to editors: An electronic version of this news release and more information is available at http://www.nps.gov/timu/planyourvisit/kingsley_heritage_celebration.htm)
The public is invited to join us for the 12th Annual Kingsley Heritage Celebration titled “Resisting Enslavement and Preserving Dignity”, Saturdays in February. The kickoff event will be February 13, 2010 and there will be special afternoon events on February 20, 27 and March 6, sponsored by the National Park Service’s Timucuan
“This event is a celebration of the determination and perseverance of the human spirit to survive against incredible odds,” explains Superintendent Barbara Goodman. “The goal of the event is to present this history in meaningful ways to our community. The arts have united people through the ages, and it will help us learn more about our shared history through the cultural influences that we hear and see everyday.”
Food will be available at the park (for a fee) on Saturday afternoon February 20, 2010. Menu choices will reflect the foods eaten during the plantation period. Picnics are also allowed. We suggest that you bring personal comfort items such as blankets or chairs for the Saturday presentations.
Kingsley Plantation, the location of the event, is a unit of the National Park Service’s Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, Florida. It is named for Zephaniah Kingsley (and his African wife,Anna), who owned and operated a 1,000-acre plantation during the first half of the nineteenth century. In addition to the scheduled events, visitors can tour the grounds which include Florida’s oldest standing plantation house, kitchen building, and barn. The remains of 25 slave cabins offer perhaps the most graphic evidence of slave living quarters and daily life experiences in the state, if not the South.
Located off Heckscher Drive/A1A, one-half mile north of the St. Johns River ferry landing, Kingsley Plantation
is open daily, at no charge, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. For more information, call 904.251.3537, or go to
http://www.nps.gov/timu, where you can access this full text press release.
Saturday, February 13, 2010- 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m.
Nantes/Jacksonville Sister City Celebration with Musical Presentations
Join us as we welcome representatives from Jacksonville’s sister city, Nantes, France. Rachel Bocher, head of Tourism in Nantes and representatives from the Château des Ducs de Bretagne will celebrate our cities’ ties, including a common history involving the slave trade. Visitors can also view a new exhibit on the transatlantic slave trade designed by the Shackles of Memory Association,in collaboration with the National Park Service, to be unveiled at the event. Musical performances by a Nantes based Hip Hop –Jazz collaboration and the local Douglas Anderson High School Jazz Ensemble will follow.
March 6, 2010 -1:00-4:00p.m. - Public Archaeology Day
Preservation and Interpretation of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage
Dr. Melissa Hargrove, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Florida
Join Dr. Hargrove as she describes how the Gullah/Geechee cultures of the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Northeast Florida struggle to maintain their unique cultural identity in the face of cultural tourism and urban development.
Archaeology Walk and Talk: Recent Discoveries at Kingsley Plantation
Dr. James Davidson, Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at the University of Florida, and the Florida Public Archaeology Network
Join Dr. Davidson for a special presentation and guided walk of the slave quarters. Hear about archaeological finds at the slave quarters and plantation grounds from the 2006 - 2009 archaeology field schools. Discover how those enslaved at this plantation can still speak to us through the objects they left behind. The Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) will also be on hand to provide visitors with insight into the various opportunities to participate in special outreach programs, summer camps, and archaeological research.
Saturday, February 20, 2010- 11:00a.m.-4:00p.m.
“Our Souls Look Back and Wondah…How We Got Ovah?”
The National Park Service’s Timucuan Preserve has collaborated with the Tajiri Arts School and Museum to bring the public a full day of performing arts in celebration of African American History. Some featured performances include music by the McIntosh County Shouters, from Townsend, GA and world renowned singer/actress Roslyn Burrough, better known as Auntie Roz. There will also be enthusiastic performances by the Ngoma Drummer and Dancers, Expressly You School of the Arts, and the Wee Dancers of the Alexander Temple here in Jacksonville, FL. For a complete listing of all performers and their biographies, please visit our website.
Saturday, February 27, 2010- 1:00p.m.-4:00p.m.
Excerpts from the play “Remember the Afrikan Holokaust” and Live Action Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation
African-American Griot, Howard “Xhabbo” Lewis will present excerpts from his original play titled, “Remember the Afrikan Holokaust”. Through narration, drumming, song and dance, Xhabbo will take the audience on a journey that explores tribal life of many Africans prior to capture and enslavement and how they later regained lost humanity and dignity despite enslavement in the Americas.
Award-winning author, genealogist, and researcher, Velma “Maia” Thomas will bring to life the plight of an estimated 100 million Africans enslaved through a live-action version of her book Lest We Forget: The Passage from Africa to Slavery and Emancipation (1997).
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