Kwanzaa is a holiday that honors tradition and deepens the understanding of Black culture, and the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center kicked off the week-long celebration of the seven-day holiday via Zoom on Sunday.
Home/Arts and Entertainment/Journey To Juneteenth Scavenger Hunt Highlights Historical Black Figures
Journey To Juneteenth Scavenger Hunt Highlights Historical Black Figures
By Curtis Michaud
May 24, 2021
Depot Park was full of young children Saturday looking for combs, chalk and photos of Black leaders from Alachua County. The children’s scavenger hunt for Black history artifacts was one of the first events in Gainesville’s monthlong “Journey to Juneteenth” celebration.
From May 20 to June 19, the city is officially celebrating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It’s the first time Gainesville is dedicating a month to the holiday, starting with the day Florida announced emancipation and culminating in the widely recognized day in June.
Kenneth Nunn held a photo of his wife, Patricia Hilliard-Nunn, to the webcam as he spoke at the end of an impassioned memorial service celebrating her life and legacy Wednesday evening.
She looks vibrant in the image, wearing a multicolored dress and headdress at the Matheson History Museum in Gainesville, speaking about the history of enslavement in Alachua County.
It’s from 2016. Why the surgical mask over much of her face? It was three days after Hilliard-Nunn, a senior lecturer in the University of Florida’s African American Studies program, underwent a bone-marrow transplant, her husband said. He urged her to not go to the museum. She ignored his plea, Nunn told the 300 people attending the two-hour virtual ceremony.