WILLIAMSBURG — Jamestown Settlement will honor the legacy of the first recorded Africans brought to Virginia in 1619 with reflections of history and modern perspectives through an African American lens during its First Africans Commemoration Saturday.
According to the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, event programs will explore the history of the Africans who brought their culture, knowledge and traditions to create a new African American culture and how that legacy is expressed today.
Commemorative programming and special guests
Finding and Keeping Family Stories — 10 and 11:30 a.m.
JYF says this interactive workshop will assist all ages in finding and sharing family stories. Using illustrations, evocative questions and shared stories, participants can walk away with a family story to keep. There will also be strategies about how to keep those stories, share them with other family members and collect the stories of family elders. This program is presented in partnership with “Everybody’s Got a Story: Hampton Storytelling.”
Wanda Tucker — 2 p.m.
Wanda Tucker’s family is descended from the first Africans to arrive at Old Point Comfort in 1619 and of William Tucker, the first recorded African child born and baptized in Virginia. JYF said she will tell the story of discovering their ancestry, visiting their country of origin, Angola, and her reflections on that visit..
Antonio Charity — 3 p.m.
Antonio Charity is an actor, writer, director and producer, originally from Surry County. His current project is a feature-length historical documentary, “Where Charity Began,” about the history of the Charity family, which is descended from some of the first Africans to arrive in Virginia in August 1619. He will sit down with Harvey Bakari, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation’s curator of Black History and Culture, to discuss his work documenting his remarkable family history.
Museum Gallery Exhibits & Films
Visitors can learn about African and African American experiences in 17th-century Virginia through Jamestown Settlement’s gallery exhibits, films and interactives that share the story of Virginia Indian, English and West Central African cultures.
Using period artifacts and innovative technology, JYF said Jamestown Settlement exhibits share historical accounts of the first documented Africans taken from their homeland in Ndongo (Angola) in 1619 to life in the Virginia colony and the evolution of a new African American culture. Its “From Africa to Virginia” multimedia presentation chronicles African encounters with Europeans, impacts on African culture and the development of the transatlantic slave trade.
The documentary film, “1607: A Nation Takes Root,” is shown every 30 minutes. The film traces the evolution of the Virginia Company that sponsored the Jamestown colony, examines the relationship between the English colonists and Powhatan Indians, and chronicles the arrival of the first recorded Africans in 1619 — including the story of Angelo, one of the first African women named in Jamestown’s historical record.
The First Africans Commemoration special event is included with museum admission — $20 for adults and $10 for youth. Children 5 and under are free. Residents of James City County, York County and the City of Williamsburg, including William & Mary students, receive free admission with proof of residency. Jamestown Settlement is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 757-253-4838 or visit jyfmuseums.org.
