8th Annual
Coming Together
Saturday, August 12, 2006

Crispus Attucks. Frederick Douglass. WEB DuBois. Langston Hughes. Josephine Baker. John Hope Franklin. Tina Turner. Jesse Jackson. Adam Clayton Powell. James Meredith. Alex Haley. Martin Luther King. Lena Horne. Alice Walker. Antwone Quenton Fisher. LL Cool J.

All these people have something more in common than being famous and being seen as so-called African Americans. They all also have Native American ancestry. They are Red-Black people.

Many of us can say the same. Maybe we have documentation and maybe we don’t. Maybe we can produce a detailed family history or genealogical chart stating without a doubt that great-great-grandmother Sarah was a member of the Choctaw Nation, and maybe not. Perhaps what we have is a family oral tradition that tells of a Native American grandmother or great-grandfather.

Whether we have written documentation or not, knowledge of our ancestry is a precious thing not given to everyone. It’s a wonderful gift to know where we come from, and like the Ghanaian Sankofa bird, to be able to see behind us to know where we stand.

After generations of having been told that we had no way to reclaim our African ties, Alex Haley’s “Roots” told us differently. He gave us permission to explore non-traditional ways of getting information, including family stories. And he also showed us the importance of sharing information so others can do the same. And now that we’re comfortable with the idea of our African roots, it’s time to become just as comfortable with our Native American connections.

On the second Saturday in August every year since 1998, in order to do just that, the Weyanoke Association has held an event called the “Coming Together Festival of Red-Black History & Culture.” The festival, like the association, promotes the sharing of Black (African Diasporan) and Red (Native American) history and culture, and the places where they meet. It’s an informal gathering of experts and non-experts, both with questions and answers, and all with open minds.

Except for the first Coming Together, which was held in founders Anita and Hugh Harrell’s large front yard, the festival has been at the Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery in Charles City, Virginia. The beautiful Hatchery grounds include woods for wandering, a 93-acre lake for free boating and fishing, and a small natural outdoor stage area.

This year's festival was held in perfect weather. Participants ranged in age from a three-month-old baby to seniors and from inner-city kids to elderly farmers. From start to finish the atmosphere was one of friendship, generosity and sharing.

As always, the festival opened with the voluntary smudging – a spiritual cleansing with the smoke of sage and other sacred herbs – of both participants and audience, followed by a procession to an area where a temporary ancestral altar had been set up. After chants and prayers, everyone processed to the stage area for a short program. The audience was welcomed by Charles City Supervisor Dr. Tim Cotman, by Weyanoke Association president Anita Harrell, and by the program’s MC, Van Miles. Afterwards Hugh Harrell, III gave a bit of historical background for the event.

Discussion tables were set up around the clearing. Throughout the afternoon people went from table to table, for informal discussions on subjects ranging from how to start researching your family tree to African history to Native American lifeways to personal Red-Black experience to Akom religious traditions.

There were also speakers who addressed the entire audience.

• Historian Bill Forbes offered facts about the Xi, also known as the Olmec, responsible for the enormous 3,000-year-old stone heads with clearly African features found in Mexico.
• Professor Robert C. Watson, who teaches history at Hampton University, spoke about the value of supplementing the information young people get in school, and making sure you seek out the truth and speak it to them.
• Dr. Michael L. Blakey, professor of Anthropology and American Studies at the College of William & Mary, shared information about the African Burial Ground Project in Manhattan. He stressed the importance of community involvement in the presentation of its own history, and the need for awareness and sensitivity in its interpretation.
• Mr. Richard M. Bowman, a historian representing the Charles City County Center for Local History, talked about the county’s having been originally part of the Jamestown Colony, and the fact that those planning the 2007 commemoration have chosen to omit important parts of the colony’s history – particularly the Native American uprisings of 1622 and 1644, which the colonists & their descendants have referred to as “massacres.”
• Chief Tom Big Warrior, of the Traditionalist United Eastern Lenape Nation, pointed out the need for changes to the Constitution’s 13th Amendment, which outlawed slavery except for prisoners. Prisoners, like the enslaved, have no legal rights anyone is bound to respect, and are mistreated with no consequences. He also reminded us that the Lenape centuries ago recognized the African origins of civilization, referring to Africans as the Elder Brothers.
• Dr. Arica L. Coleman, a Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, stressed the need for many others to get involved in the important work of the Weyanoke Association so that it will outlive those who are now taking on most of the responsibility.

It wasn’t all talk; there was music and dancing too. The Four Directions Dancers, made up of Nottoway tribal member Leroy Hardy, five of his children and some friends, gave a demonstration of traditional Native American dancing. Nata’aska Hummingbird offered powerful songs from both the Red and Black tradition, interspersed with commentary supporting the need to tell our young people the truth so they will be able to withstand the pressure to act in ways that don’t benefit them. And Legacy of Weyanoke, the professional performing arm of the Weyanoke Association, shared Black, Red and Red-Black songs.

At the break between presentations there was a potluck dinner that reflected Black, Red and Red-Black food traditions. There was Three Sisters Stew with the corn, beans and squash of Native America, with buffalo meat added. There were Benne Cakes, an African dessert made from sesame seeds. There was also sassafras tea, black-eyed pea salad, chili & rice, fried chicken, potato salad, apple pie, bread pudding, and much more. Everyone ate well, thanks to the cooperative spirit and goodwill that prevailed. Everyone also helped with the setup and the cleanup.

“Coming Together” is not your average festival. It’s unique because of its focus on history and culture, because of its Red, Black and Red-Black subject matter, because it’s a grassroots effort fueled by volunteers, and because it celebrates and shares thought-provoking research collected from a variety of sources and perspectives. It will keep growing from year to year as more Red-Black people recognize that others have told our story long enough. We will continue “Coming Together” to tell our own.

Anita Harrell