African American Heritage Trail

Screening of Afro-Punk and Conversation with Director James Spooner
2022-09-24 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | 25 O’Clock Brewing Co., 208 W. Griggs St., Urbana, Illinois, 61801
James Spooner will be at 25 O’Clock Brewing Co. as part of Pygmalion, in partnership with the Urbana Arts + Culture Program. Please visit the Pygmalion website for information about purchasing tickets.
James Spooner is an accomplished tattoo artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. He directed the seminal documentary Afro-Punk. Spooner is also the co-founder of the Afro-punk Festival. Spooner’s work has appeared in NPR, Vice, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, Vibe, Fader, MTV, NBC News, and Variety. He is an ongoing guest curator for the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, and previously programmed for the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
ABOUT THE HIGH DESERT
A Memoir by James Spooner
From James Spooner, the creator of Afro-Punk, comes a stunning graphic memoir of his coming-of-age in a miserable desert town in California in the early 1990s: THE HIGH DESERT (Harper; on sale May 17, 2022; $26.00, 368 pages; ISBN 978-0-358-65911-2). THE HIGH DESERT is the story of a young man’s immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love, and belonging—and the story of a search for salvation and community through punk.
Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom are back in the Apple Valley, California town after years away. The one silver lining—new school, new you, right? But the few Black kids at school seem to be gangbanging, and the other kids fall on a spectrum of microagressors to future Neo-Nazis. Mixed race, acutely aware of his Blackness, James doesn’t know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young Black punk who introduces him to the school outsiders—skaters, unhappy young rebels, caught up in the punk groundswell sweeping the country.
A haircut, a few Sex Pistols, Misfits, and Black Flag records later: Suddenly, James has friends, romantic prospects, and knows the difference between a bass and a guitar. But this desolate landscape hides brutal, building undercurrents: a classmate overdoses, a friend must prove himself to his white supremacist brother and the local Aryan brotherhood through a show of violence. Everything and everyone are set to collide at one of the year’s biggest shows in town.
Weaving in the Black roots of punk rock and a vivid interlude in the thriving eighties DIY and punk scene in New York’s East Village, THE HIGH DESERT is an engaging and moving graphic memoir of a budding punk, artist, and activist.

Ayana Contreras at 25 O'Clock Brewing Co.
2022-09-24 17:30 - 18:15 | 25 O’Clock Brewing Co., 208 W. Griggs St., Urbana, Illinois, 61801
Ayana Contreras will be at 25 O’Clock Brewing Co. as part of Pygmalion, in partnership with the Urbana Arts + Culture Program. Please visit the Pygmalion website for information about purchasing tickets.
Ayana Contreras is a cultural historian, memory worker, radio DJ and archivist. An avid collector with over 8000 vintage vinyl records, she hosts the Reclaimed Soul program on WBEZ and Vocalo Radio in Chicago. She is also a columnist for DownBeat magazine, and her writings have been published in Chicago Review, Oxford American and Bandcamp Daily among other publications. Her book on Post-Civil Rights Era cultural history, titled Energy Never Dies: Afro-Optimism and Creativity in Chicago, was published December 2021 through University of Illinois Press.

Nabil Ayers at the Krannert Art Museum
2022-09-24 13:30 - 14:30 | Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, Illinois, 61820
Nabil Ayers will be at the Krannert Art Museum on September 24 as part of Pygmalion. Please visit the Pygmalion website for information about purchasing tickets.
Nabil Ayers is the President of Beggars Group USA, where he has released albums by many GRAMMY Award-winning artists. Ayers has written about music and race for publications including The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and GQ. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.

ABOUT MY LIFE IN THE SUNSHINE

In 1971, a white, Jewish, former ballerina chose to have a child with the famous Black jazz musician Roy Ayers, fully expecting and agreeing to his absenteeism. In MY LIFE IN THE SUNSHINE, their son Nabil Ayers recounts a life spent living with the aftermath of that decision, and his journey to build an identity of his own despite his father’s absence. Even though Nabil has only met him a handful of times, his father has been a steady influence in his life. Like Roy, Nabil became deeply involved in the music industry, first as a musician, and currently as the President of Beggars Group USA, where he has worked with musicians such as The National, St. Vincent, and Big Thief. The title of his memoir is a homage to the opening lyric from his father’s 1976 song, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” which has always followed Nabil as both a painful and hopeful reminder of his connection to his father– reflecting the passion and ambition that they share as well as the close relationship that they don’t.
In Nabil’s search to connect with his father, he ultimately discovers the existence of several half- siblings as well as a paternal ancestor who was enslaved. Following these connections, Nabil meets and befriends the descendant of the plantation owner, which, strangely, paves the way for him to make meaningful connections with the extended family he never knew existed. A thoughtful meditation on biracial identity, intimacy, and finding true community; MY LIFE IN THE SUNSHINE upends our conventional understanding of family and redefines its boundaries.

Researching the Tuskegee Airmen and Preserving the Doris Hoskins Archive
2022-09-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Mark Hanson, former curator for the Chanute Air Museum and current curator at the Museum of the Grand Prairie (both in Champaign County) has been an active local researcher for over 11 years. Mark has researched and preserved the history of the original members of the Tuskegee airmen during his time at the Chanute Air Museum. In his current position, he has been involved in acquiring and organizing the Doris Hoskins Archive at the Museum of the Grand Prairie. Additionally, Mark contributes his time and research skills to the developing Champaign County African American Heritage Trail. At this presentation Mark will share some of his research methods and the local resources he used with attendees.

The presentation will begin at 7:00 pm (CDT). Want some extra time to talk about genealogy? Log on as early as 6:30pm to socialize and get to know other family historians in our group.

Register in advance using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctc-GpqjojHNdOn_6zw7fZ9hxtiwaMmnW9

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. If you do not receive a Zoom link within 15 minutes after registering, please check your spam folder. If you do not receive a link, please send email to programs@ilccgs.org.

This event is co-sponsored by the Champaign County Historical Archives at the Urbana Free Library.

C-U Black & African Arts Festival
2022-09-10 09:00 - 17:00 | Lincoln Square Mall, 201 Lincoln Square, Urbana, IL, 61801
The C-U Black & African Arts Festival mission is to expose and give a culturally diverse experience to the Champaign-Urbana, IL community by expressing both Black and African heritage. This includes, and is not limited to: Art, music, fashion.
Friday, September 9
The Soul Rebels at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts | 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 10
Lincoln Square Mall | 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Featured in 2022:

Music by DJ Silkee and Dance Music Therapy
Live performances
Vendors
Kids Corner
Food, fun, and more!

C-U Black and African Arts Festival
2022-09-09 20:30 - 22:00 | Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL, 61801

Jettie Rhodes Day
2022-08-25 12:00 - 16:00 | Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 915 W. Wascher Dr., Urbana, IL, 61801
