Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival events celebrate culture, activism, music, education

The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival is back with a full schedule of events and experiences focused on music, education, economic and social empowerment and the arts.

Leadership Luncheon with Willie Pearl Mackey King

From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 11, civil rights activist Willie Pearl Mackey King is the featured speaker for a leadership luncheon at the University Area Community Development Center, 14013 N 22nd St, Tampa.

King was an executive staff member for the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She transcribed and compiled Dr. King’s famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” from notes written on newspaper edges, table napkins, toilet paper and scraps of paper and passed to her from Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker.

When the 1964 Civil Rights Act established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Dr. King tasked her with going to work at the recently established EEOC. She worked for the EEOC for 32 years. On November 20, 2022, King was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Montgomery County Maryland Office of Human Rights.

For more information, go to Leadership Luncheon.

Never Had a Friend

Dr. Micah E. Johnson performs his one-man show “Never Had a Friend” at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor campus Performing Arts Center from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, January 11.

The show tells Johnson’s life story and how a lonely child living in a homeless shelter overcomes trauma, violence, depression and social disadvantage to become the person he is today.

For more information, go to Never Had a Friend.

50 Years of Hip Hop: Past, Present & Future

At 7 p.m. on Friday, January 12, “50 Years of Hip Hop: Past, Present & Future” at the University of South Florida School of Music will tell the story of hip hop music and culture.

The two-hour event will include a movie preview, live performances and a panel discussion moderated by Kenrick Wagner,  the Director of Contemporary Commercial Music at the USF School of Music.

For more information, go to 50 Years of Hip Hop.

Music Festival

The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival's 10 -day celebration of culture, history, music, arts and education culminates with a two-day concert festival at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa on January 13 and 14. The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival’s signature event, the two-day weekend concert, is Saturday, January 13, and Sunday, January 14, at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa. The festival includes two full days of performances by regional and national artists. Funk band Slave and Keke Wyatt are the national acts headlining on Saturday. Jazz artist Adam Hawley and  Leela James are Sunday’s national headliners.

For more information, go to Tampa Bay Black Heritage Music Festival.

College & Career Conversations: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Ready or Not, Here I Am

Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival events wrap up on Saturday, January 20, with “College & Career Conversations: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Ready or Not, Here I Am.”

The free event includes a panel discussion on college and career planning in a landscape that now includes AI. Featured activities are intended to help students and parents develop career decision-making strategies and learn about a variety of AI-related topics. The event is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at THAP Inc., 5508 N. 50th St in Tampa.

For more information, go to College & Career Conversations.

Partner events

In addition to the official Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival events, several partner organizations have events scheduled this year. 

The Black Business Bus Tour continues its long-standing collaboration with the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival on Saturday, January 13. The bus tour is scheduled to depart from Curtis Hixon at 10 a.m. (staging begins at 9 a.m.). Regina Johnson, proprietor of "Queens Vision African Apparel, welcomes visitors to her boutique on Busch Boulevard during a 2021 Black Business Bus Tour event. A tour is scheduled January 13 as part of the 2024 Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival.Black Business Bus Tour founder Candy Lowe says the tour will visit four black-owned businesses, including two event spaces that will have multiple vendors. Reservations on the bus are $30.

For more information, go to Black Business Bus Tour.

The Stompdown Experience: National Step Tour

The Stopdown Experience, the country’s largest touring step competition, hits downtown Tampa on Saturday, January 13. The Tampa show is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. in Ferguson Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts,  1010 N Macinnes Pl. 

For more information, go to The Stompdown.