2022 MAAFA COMMEMORATION GUIDE
The MAAFA is a racial healing commemoration of the ancestors, known and unknown, from the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Join us as we gather in Congo Square and lead a procession to the Mississippi River to honor our ancestors who fought, resisted, perished, and persevered through enslavement.
Through performance art, ritual, and prayer, we foster healing and hope for our collective future.
The theme of this year’s Maafa is Interconnected. The deep, ancestral bonds of the African Diaspora are unbreakable. From New Orleans to Puerto Rico to Brazil, from bamboula to bomba, we retain the rhythm of the motherland. Across the span of centuries and oceans, conquest and colonialism could not dilute our roux or wash away our roots. We are the legacy of a cosmic and complex history of survival, resistance, and triumph.
Click here to RSVP.
2022 MAAFA PROGRAM
CONGO SQUARE / THE RIVER | 8:00 am - 1:00 pm
DRUM CALL
Led by Master Drummer Luther Gray
KUMBUKA AFRICAN DRUM & DANCE COLLECTIVE
ELDER’S PERMISSION TO BEGIN
PRAYERS/LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Grayhawk Perkins
WELCOME
Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes
MAAFA HISTORY
Malik Bartholomew
PERFORMANCE
Nkiruka Drum and Dance Ensemble
CALL FOR HEALING
Rev. Denise Graves
Jibril Smith
Minister Willie Muhammad
Constance Thompson
Jess Araten
Rev. Paul Beedle
Pastor Greg Manning
PERFORMANCE
FreeQuency
ANCESTRAL SALUTE
De La Soul Ensemble
GRAND GRIOT INTRODUCTION & DEDICATION
Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes
GRAND GRIOT MONA LISA SALOY
UPTOWN MUSICAL THEATRE
Negro National Anthem
YOUTH MESSAGE
PROCESSION TO THE RIVER
SUNNI PATTERSON
RELEASE OF DOVES
MAAFA 2022 MAP
Below, Ashé Cultural Arts Center has created a digital map to guide you to historic sites of slavery in New Orleans. We invite everyone in attendance to learn more about the history of enslavement by visiting these sacred spaces.
Each Sankofa represents a different historical marker tied to enslavement in New Orleans. You can click on each icon to read about the history of each location. We encourage you to pause as you remember and bear witness.
The pink dining icons will guide you to #AshéApproved Black-owned restaurants in the area. We hope you find this map nourishing and look forward to reconvening at the river. Ashé.
ABOUT MAAFA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Efforts of Grace, Inc. / Ashé Cultural Arts Center is funded in part by the Ford Foundation; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; the Surdna Foundation; the Kresge Foundation; the Lambent Foundation of the Tides Foundation; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Edward Wisner Fund; the Greater New Orleans IMPACT Program; the Joan Mitchell Foundation; the David & Lucille Packard Foundation; Baptist Community Ministries; the National Endowment for the Arts; the WMG/BFF Social Justice Fund; the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures; the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation; a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans; and other foundations, corporations and individuals. Efforts of Grace/Ashé CAC is also supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council.
