This image is of Peggy (R), then a 19 year-old SNCC member, next to future civil rights icon, Dr. Dorothy Cotton (L), after a 1962 church burning in Georgia—the state that Peggy's great-great grandparents, William & Ellen Craft, famously escaped from slavery nearly 115 years earlier...
MY
W E E K L Y
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MONTICELLO "GETTING WORD" JUNETEENTH EVENT
6.17.22 - 6.18.22
Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely
Dr. Dorothy Cotton
I am honored to announce that as a descendant of Mary Hemings Bell, the sister of Sally Hemings, I've been asked to participate in the Juneteenth event, Ascendant: The Power of Descendant Communities to Shape Our Stories, Places and Future that will take place at Monticello today, 6/17/22 (for Monticello descendants), and tomorrow, 6/18/22 (open to the public), as part of the two-day event honoring Monticello's Getting Word descendant community and the re-dedication of Monticello's hallowed Burial Ground for Enslaved People,
I will speak this Saturday at 11:40 am ET on the "Descendant Communities and the Arts" panel, and perform my poetry with music accompaniment by my cousin and Hemings' descendant, Angela Niles, to close the 10 am ET panel, "Honoring The Ancestors: Descendants, Burial Grounds & Sites of Conscience." Please click here for the agenda (for today's events click here).
You may WATCH LIVE STREAMS of the various programs either on their website, Facebook page or YouTube account. Special guests include not only my fellow panelists, Ava DuVernay and Wynton Marsalis, but other luminaries and distinguished guests, such as New York Times Best-selling author, Clint Smith.
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I'm also proud that my granddaughter, Kayelynn Craft Day-Lyons, is with me on this very important journey of legacy...
Finally, to those who have been faithful visitors to my site, thank you for your patience with my intermittent postings. In addition to live engagements, I'm in the middle of writing for two special publishing projects that I will share at another time. Meanwhile, I hope you virtually enjoy thIs event...