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Black Heritage Festival Is A Forum For All

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By MIKE SALINERO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2008

Updated: 01/14/2008 12:13 am

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. argued for a society in which black and white children would hold hands and strive for a better country.

Organizers of the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival, which starts today, want the 10-day celebration to embrace King's philosophy by including all races in forums, education, arts and cultural events.

"The festival is to bring pride to the black community and to have discussions and get insight into our heritage," festival organizer Ken Anthony said. "But it's also a forum for all the community."

The festival started in January 2001 in conjunction with the Super Bowl coming to Tampa.

"They were looking for diverse activities," Anthony said. "There was nothing in the community of that nature then."

The next year, the festival was moved to the week of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Organizers started looking at different events around the Tampa Bay area being held in observance of the King holiday and decided to incorporate them into the festival.

"We said, 'Why don't we brand all these things because they're all going on about the same time as the Black Heritage Festival?'" Anthony said.

The festival this year will include 16 different venues featuring music, poetry, art and photography, as well as discussion forums. Award-winning poet, novelist and historian Maya Angelou will speak at a prefestival event at the University of South Florida Sun Dome today at 7 p.m.

Angelou was invited as part of the USF University Lecture Series, which became part of the Black Heritage Festival several years ago. Past speakers have included Nobel Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.

Tuesday, Hillsborough County's Martin Luther King Jr. parade will take a new route. For the first time, the noon event will travel down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Tampa. It will start at 15th Street, move east to 22nd Street, then turn north and end at Osborne Avenue.

Other events include the annual Heritage Festival photography contest. This year, students from Memorial Middle School will be given cameras to shoot photos with the theme, "What I Like Best About My Community." The pictures will be exhibited at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts.

Musical acts include the Sugarhill Gang, Rose Royce, Walter Beasley, and Ray, Goodman & Brown.

Anthony said the Black Heritage Festival has a positive impact on the bay area's economy, both short- and long-term.

"Creative counties that share diversity of art and culture are more amenable for corporations to relocate to and for tourism," he said.

For information about venues and times of festival events, visit www.tampablackheritage.org, or call 1-888-224-1733, ext. 143.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.

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