Special to the AFRO
Fifty years ago, in 1976, what began as the Afro-American Exposition at Baltimore’s Charles Center and Hopkins Plaza has grown into the beloved Afro-American Festival, or AFRAM for short. Like many of Baltimore’s festivals, it has moved locations over the years, but its spirit and purpose have not changed: AFRAM is a celebration of Black culture.
This Juneteenth weekend, Baltimoreans from East to West Baltimore and everywhere in between will once again gather for live performances and local Black businesses. But for many, including hosts, organizers and festivalgoers who’ve watched AFRAM evolve over five decades, this golden anniversary is as much about looking back as it is about celebrating. That nostalgia isn’t only the subject of a new documentary, “AFRAM 50: A Celebration of Us,” produced by a women-led team of Baltimore-based creatives that plans to take viewers on a journey through the festival’s rich history. It’s also the subject of this roundup.
Mayor Brandon M. Scott, who gave his blessing to the documentary, told this writer that with so many attacks on and attempts to erase Black history and Black culture, the community must tell its own stories…