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Honoring Juneteenth at NOMA

Sat, June 19th, 2021

Honoring Juneteenth at NOMA

Join us at NOMA for a day of activities to honor Juneteenth—the annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States—and support the ongoing movement for justice, equity, and liberation. Come together on the Museum steps for family art-making; experience a moving dance performance co-presented by Edward Spots and Magnolia Dance & Company; view a photographic banner created by students at New Harmony High School; and delve into online programming. Stop by throughout the day to share what honoring Juneteenth means to you.

All events and activities are free. To reserve your free ticket for admission to NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden, click here. 

Juneteenth refers to June 19, 1865, when Union general Gordon Granger read out federal orders declaring that all people previously enslaved in Texas were free, nearly two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Through grassroots efforts, Black people in Texas reclaimed June 19 from a day of unheeded military orders as the first celebration of “Juneteenth” a year later in 1866, and it continues as a celebration for Black liberation across the country. To learn more, see  “What Is Juneteenth?” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

 

Programs and Events

Edward Spots: Motion to Move

2 pm and 4 pm

Lapis Center for the Arts

 
Motion to Move is a performance event by renowned dancer and choreographer Edward Spots with Magnolia Dance & Company. This original work will honor the history of Juneteenth, while considering the legacies of enslavement and brutality that still exist within our current prison system and elsewhere.
 
Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the museum on the day of the event.
 

Artmaking Activity: Freedom Flag Wind Catchers

10 am–5 pm

Great Hall

 
What does freedom mean to you? Take inspiration from the Juneteenth holiday flag, known as the “freedom flag,” to create your own wind catcher using paper rolls, beaded wire, and streamers.
 

What Is Harmony?

Exterior Fence to the Besthoff Sculpture Garden

Building on an ongoing collaboration between New Harmony High School and the New Orleans Photo Alliance, this spring NOMA collaborated with local students to explore the fundamentals of photography and curating with some of the city’s foremost artists. The culmination of this project, What Is Harmony?, is on view to the public starting June 19. View a collaborative photo narrative reflecting on what it means to find balance with ourselves, our communities, and the environment.
 
Due to the weather, this project will be installed at a later date and will not be on view on June 19.

AfricaTown USA

Available Online Starting June 19

Amistad Research Center presents Conversations in Color featuring community activist Hannibal Lokumbe and the pastor of Union Missionary Baptist Church of AfricaTown USA, Rev. Derek Tucker. They will discuss the cultural restoration of the historic community of AfricaTown, which was founded in 1866 by the survivors of the last documented slave ship to transport enslaved Africans to the Americas. The Amistad Research Center will also share an oral history of AfricaTown descendant Lorna Woods.
 

 

 

                                              

Education and outreach initiatives at NOMA are supported in part by the Zemurray Foundation; the Lois and Lloyd Hawkins Jr. Foundation; The Helis Foundation; The Gayle and Tom Benson Foundation; The City of New Orleans; IBERIABANK; The Wagner Foundation; Janice Parmelee and Bill Hammack; the Diversifying Art Museum Leadership Initiative, funded by the Walton Family Foundation and the Ford Foundation; Sara and David Kelso; Patrick F. Taylor Foundation;  Dr. Scott S. Cowen; The RosaMary Foundation; The Azby Fund; the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency; The Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation; Burkenroad Foundation; Marian Dreux Van Horn Education Endowment; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation;  Ruby K. Worner Trust through the PNC Charitable Trusts Grant Review Committee; The Harry T. Howard III Foundation; New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation, Inc.; Harvey and Marie Orth; The Bruce J. Heim Foundation; and Mrs. Bennett A. Molter, Jr. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Details

Date:
Sat, June 19th, 2021
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