'Making Black America:' Celebrate Black Joy in Music, Dance and Community

The "Making Black America" event at the Expo Arts Center in Long Beach featured content from the recent PBS Henry Louis Gates, Jr. series and highlighted some of the ways in which Black people have created community with homage to the rent parties of the 1920s, the annual family reunion, music and dance. About 250 community members mixed and mingled among the themed decade photobooths and art exhibits. The event included food, a conversation on the history of jazz with the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach as well as performances and live music from local organizations such as LA Swing Dance Posse, Black Art Distrikt and radio station KJAZZ (88.1 KKJZ).

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