African American Heritage Festival Celebrates Its 45th Year

As the sun draws low over Weequahic Park and smells of jerk chicken and incense mingle in the air, children can be heard chasing each other off in the distance. It’s just another lazy evening rolling over into night in the South Ward.

Except it isn’t. This isn’t your mother’s house and this isn’t just another steamy summer night. It's Memorial Day weekend and the African American Heritage Parade Committee (AAHPC) is celebrating with their annual festival.

“…I believe deeply that when they see us adults, elders, young adults, youth doing this positive event, it can’t help but make a major impression on the minds and hearts and give some help to our young people,” said Donald Bernard, the senior chairperson and chief executive officer of AAHPC, when discussing the importance of the festival.

According to Bernard, the festival began 45 years ago in the mind of John Thomas, a school teacher. When in class, discussing the various cultural parades and festivals, one African American student asked why there wasn’t a parade for his people. This spurred Thomas to help form the first parade, which went through a number of name changes as the years passed. Beginning as the Crispus Attucks Parade, the current name was finalized in the '90s.

But that doesn’t mean the festival is now set in stone. Just last year, one vendor, a karaoke tent, was causing a bit of a commotion by getting a bigger, rowdier crowd than the main stage. Rather than keep them out this year, Bernard and his constituents practiced this year’s theme of “Umoja”, or unity, by inviting the group back.

“We reached back to them and said, ‘We’ll give you the grand stage on Friday night. Let’s have a community karaoke. You guys head it up,'” said Bernard.

Today, the parade and festival are the biggest in the state and the third largest of its kind in the country. However, the festival’s scope and inspiration are not lost on the vendors and citizens of Newark.

"I think this lets people know that there are positive things you can do instead of just hanging in the street all night doing a lot mischief," said Nate "The Great," the karaoke host from last year. "I think it’s a very positive thing."

Festival-goer Paulette Rivera found some room for improvement.

"They need to get an ATM machine out here and they need to start accepting ATM cards at these booths," she said,, adding "I think it's good for the community because it gets a lot of people together to have fun."

Charlene Millner, one of the vendors, summed up the event best.

"It brings everyone together. It's a unifying experience and a peaceful experience," she said. "And especially in a city like Newark, where there's so much violence. It's great to see us take time to love each other and enjoy each other and do things for our families on Memorial Day weekend."

Over the course of the weekend, the park will have vendors (save your money for goods rather than the food - $9 for fried fish and fries doesn’t compare to $1 earrings), a fair (complete with Ferris Wheel), and multiple acts on the main stage. Hip-hop and spoken word will dominate the festival Saturday afternoon.

"In the evening, we move on to classic soul and R&B with the Delfonics review," said Bernard.

Sunday will feature gospel, spiritual choirs and praise dance for the entire day, and  Monday will conclude the festival with a Diaspora theme (Carribbean bands, African bands, and a Zawati African dance troupe).

For more information on the festival, click here.

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