The Museum of the African Diaspora presents the 16th Annual San Francisco Kwanzaa Celebration: A Live Poetry Reading, on Sunday Dec. 26, kicking off the 7-day holiday with an afternoon of poetry by an accomplished coterie of poets at the Golden Gate Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park from 3:00 – 4:30 pm. This event will be live, but it will also be recorded and broadcast here on Jan. 1, the final day of Kwanzaa.
MoAD is partnering with non-profit The Village Project, S.F. to honor the holiday, a celebration of 7 core principles meant to unify African-American and Pan-African people in a strong and healthy sense of cultural pride.
Traditionally, each paragon of pan-African idealism is given a day on which to be recognized with feasting, dancing, drumming, singing, and/or poetry, among other forms of expressive arts.
The first day of Kwanzaa (Umoja as it’s known in Swahili) is dedicated to the tenet of ‘Unity’ throughout the African diaspora. At this year’s San Francisco Kwanzaa Celebration, the poets Daniel B. Summerhill, Tiffany Banks, James Cagney, and Tyanna Braswell will ring in Umoja with a poetic exploration of the holiday.
The Village Project, S.F.’s Director, Adrian Williams, reported excellent engagement during last year’s virtual Kwanzaa programs– at one point shortly after the holiday, their viewership on YouTube and Facebook combined reached 18,000. She expects another exciting festivity this year.
And here’s yet another thrill– this event is free of charge. So, as filmmaker Clinton “Brotha Clint” Sockwell II sings in his great holiday video, go “get your Kwanzaa on!”