African-American Educational and Cultural Festival

The two-day virtual benefit hosted by the African American Educational & Cultural Festival features a host of performers June 19 & 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Horns blaring, flags waving and “baby Trump” balloons bobbing in the breeze, a Black Lives Matter “caravan for justice” came through Riverhead last night, stopping for a brief demonstration in a Route 58 parking lot before heading east to Greenport.

“This moment— this is history, this whole season of life. Someday, when you get older and you’re talking to your grandkids and they’re going to ask you about what happened in 2020. They’re going to ask you what you did,” Kyle Braunskill of Flanders told the crowd at the event in Stotzky Park June 20.

A “Unity in the Community” rally is taking place today at Stotzky Park. Organizer Eric Williams said the...

The event included food, music, dance and poetry — from steel drummers and African dancers to Gospel music by the First Baptist Church Liturgical Ministry.

The complexities of African American history make it difficult to unearth and nearly impossible to condense into one small exhibit space during one month of the year. But Marylin Winter and Dr. James Banks of the African American Educational and Cultural Festival embrace the challenge.

The African-American Educational and Cultural Festival organized a reception and exhibit at Riverhead Free Library celebrating African-American culture and history by promoting diversity, multiculturalism and unity.