Oaktree Community Outreach is hosting the annual Back to Angola Festival
Oaktree Community Outreach is hosting the annual Back to Angola Festival a 3-day event, in partnership with Reflections of Manatee. The venue is the Manatee Mineral Spring Park of Bradenton’s Riverwalk. The event is a public humanities program and community festival that celebrates, pays homage to, and disseminates the story of the Black Seminole settlement “Angola,” its history, its inhabitants, and the resilience of its descendants. The theme for the 2023 festival is “Shoulders We Stand On, Honoring Angola’s Freedom Seekers.”
Angola represents the 1770s-1821 maroon settlement by the Manatee River, a history excavated over the last fifteen years as a community-based public research project that connected local residents of Bradenton and descendants on Andros Island, The Bahamas.
Historians will share their findings with the general public, and community leaders and descendants of Angola will share the rich influence and impact of the Angola heritage today. The Festival will feature panel discussions by scholars, demonstrations of traditions of basket weaving and wood carving, audience participation activities, food offerings, music (including Junkanoo) and art displays by descendants of Angola from The Bahamas.
Join Us in Honoring the Freedom Seekers from the Angola Maroon Community who lived at the Manatee Springs circa. 1812 – 1821. In 1821 when the site was raided, they fled and there were those who found refuge in Red Bays, Andros ,The Bahamas , Cape Florida on Key Biscayne and among the Seminoles communities at Peace River.
The festival showcases the history of the Angola community. Come and enjoy lively discussions with the historians, archaeologists, and the descendants themselves about this place which was a place of Freedom. There will be demonstrations of basket weaving & wood carving. Music by Andros descendants, Junkanoo “rush out”, and costume workshop, and of course a whole lot of delicious native Bahamian dishes – conch fritters, conch salad, fried fish & lots more.
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Dr. Sharon Jefferson
President/Founder
Rosalyn Walton Education
and Enrichment Services
