Photos: Juneteenth NY\Facebook
NEW YORK – The second annual Big Black Kickback celebration was held on Saturday, Juneteenth in New York on Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Long Meadow, and for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia in Piedmont Park.
Black creatives from More Media Co., One Queen to Another, and Blackity Co., in collaboration with grassroots organizations Official Juneteenth NYC and Black Feminists Matter, and Black-owned brands Africoil and Reed Limited Entertainment, combined their strengths to create a safe space, where Black people of all ages could celebrate Juneteenth together.
The Black-centered, dual-state event featured free food and games, including a Big Black Field Day, with relay races and prizes, Big Black Graduation, a celebration of the class of 2021, and the Big Bank Bazaar, a unique picnic-style pop up, showcasing local Black owned businesses.
“We assert that Black Joy is sacred. Therefore, building safe spaces for Black people includes reclaiming the public spaces in which we are constantly criminalized. On Juneteenth, the Big Black Kickback celebrates the freedom of Black people to unapologetically convene, celebrate, create and react .. as we please and in our element.” – Jael Kiana Lewis, Creative Director and Brand Designer of More Media Co.
More than just having fun and acknowledging the history of Juneteenth, the Big Black Kickback was an opportunity to give back to the community in a meaningful way. Building a safe space for Black people to congregate and enjoy one another’s company and energy, while simultaneously creating the Big Black Collective, an independent fund to curate the creation of new Black businesses. Last year the event was able to raise over $1,000 in the first 24 hours for the Big Black Collective.
Birthed from four Black women entrepreneurs – Jael Lewis, Creative Director and Brand Designer of MORE Media Co., Melinda and Melissa Bunbury, Author and Educators of One Queen to Another, and Georgia Owusu – CEO of Blackity Co – The Big Black Kickback was created as a way to celebrate Juneteenth and give back to the local Black community; collaborating to restore justice and healing in the Black community through social entrepreneurship and social gathering.
