Past Events

Songs of the Living: A gathering led by Toshi Reagon inspired by Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower

Join in the beginning of NYC's Parable Path, a set of local events, talks and rituals centered in collaborative living that draw inspiration from the classic sci-fi novel by the late MacArthur Fellow and Hugo Award-winner Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower. Led by singer/songwriter Toshi Reagon, whose opera of the same name will premiere in New York in 2023, tonight’s event features a community choir that will direct the audience through an open and engaging evening of song, dance, and deep conversation. Come be a part of this harmonious and challenging exploration of sustainable routes onto the righteous path in an ever-changing world.

Weeksville Green: Farmers & Community Market

Weeksville Green returns this summer, with our annual Farmers & Community Market held Saturdays from 12PM–4PM. This year, as a part of NYC DOT's Open Street initiative, the market will be held directly outside WHC on Buffalo Ave, between St. Marks Ave and Bergen St. Weeksville Green programming will continue to focus on Black foodways, urban growing, diasporic memory and community built through food at every stage––from farming to ingredients as well as cooking and mealtime.

Freedom Is…: Exploring New York’s Black History

Explore Weeksville and Black New York! Join us for one of three free tours of the historic Hunterfly Road houses and immerse yourself in Weeksville’s radical history of freedom, autonomy, and preservation. Relax on our beautiful campus and grab a free book from House of Speakeasy to learn more about the little known but incredibly rich history of central Brooklyn and greater Black Gotham. Following the country’s first national celebrations of Juneteenth and Independence Day, we’re uplifting the ways New York’s Black population has continuously defined freedom on their own terms.

Groove on the Green: Cultivating Liberation in Urban Green Spaces

Held on the date of NYC Pride, Groove on the Green centers queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming farmers, urban gardeners, and land stewards – especially those who are Black, Indigenous, and Brown. An alternative to corporatized Pride events, we will uplift the ways that Black LGBTQIA2S+ liberation is tied to the land preservation, protection, & cultivation, as well as center the people who are engaged in that work.

THE UNARRIVAL EXPERIMENTS: DARK DIVE with Ni’Ja Whitson

Weeksville Heritage Center partners with New York Live Arts to present an in-process look at NYLA Live Feed residency artist Ni’Ja Whitson’s newest exploration: Dark Dive. A part of the Unarrival Experiments, Dark Dive is a portal into the liberatory dark of Black imagination, spiritual possibility, and Black Trans and Queer magic. It is a conjuring of the past and the future.

Illumination Catalogue: Sacred Story Sharing Circle

Held for the Black trans, gender non-conforming (GNC), and intersex community, this Summer Solstice, Ni’Ja (Sage) Whitson invites local Black trans, GNC, and intersex folks to gather for the Illumination Catalogue’s first in-person Black Trans Story Circle love pour at Weeksville Heritage Center.

Mister Sunday Juneteenth Takeover

Looking for a Juneteenth Food Festival Afterparty? We've got you covered. Join us at Nowadays for Mister Sunday with Dex and Mark Flash of Underground Resistance plus Nowadays resident SHYBOI DJing all day.Underground Resistance and Weeksville Heritage Center come together to commemorate Juneteenth with an event that brings forward legacies of autonomous Black community building while celebrating in the present with a set on Nowadays’ outdoor dance floor.

Juneteenth Food Festival

Join us as we team up with Jummy's Picks by Black-Owned Brooklyn at our ALL-BLACK Juneteenth Food Festival! Over 20 top-tier Black food vendors will be on deck with delicious fare spanning the Diaspora, including regions of the United States, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. There will also be merch available from local Black-owned businesses whose focus is celebrating Black culture, pride, and liberation.

Pinkster Celebration

Dutch settlers brought the observation of Pinkster to New York during their early 17th century colonization of the land and peoples. While enslaved Africans and African Americans had limited opportunities for respite, Pinkster became one of the few instances where they were able to openly rest and practice their varied cultures among themselves. We’re excited to partner with Chief Baba Neil Clarke to bring the festival of Pinkster to Weeksville, with opportunities to learn more about the history of Black foodways, folkways, and music histories.

Black Exhale NEST Project

To celebrate the completion of the human-sized nest created for the Black Exhale Nest, Antoinette Cooper and Debbie Baxter invite local community members and supporters to come together for an evening of healing. Shamanic drummer, Timmie Larode, will open the evening.

Something Like Freedom: Reading Group

FREE + VIRTUAL
Something Like Freedom: Reading Group, is an intimate, virtual reading group where participants will build a personal and collective understanding of abolition & liberation. Participants will view and discuss short excerpts of critical texts – ranging across books, music, film and other media – selected by the facilitator(s). Though some materials may be provided in advance, this reading group does not require any prior preparation or background knowledge on any topics.

AFROINDUSTRIALIZATION

Join us on May 18th from 7-8pm for AFROINDUSTRIALIZATION, a community presentation about the need for African American communities to be prepared to fully participate at an ownership and management level in the industries created by new technologies, ensuring that these industries don’t simply pass through or extract revenue FROM the African American community but rather live within and generate revenue FOR the African American community. This free event, presented by our May Space Grant recipient, will include raffle prizes, and tech demonstrations.