SOLD OUT – Voices of the Land: A Juneteenth Celebration

Join Allerton In-Residence artists Sandra Jackson-Opoku and Tina Jenkins Bell for “Voices of the Land: A Juneteenth Celebration” from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 19 in the Allerton Mansion Library.

Traditionally, our forebears drew many things from the land: Food, shelter, maps, inspiration and a sense of identity. This was particularly true of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, George Washington Carver and other enslaved and freed Africans. Using the Juneteenth commemoration of Black emancipation, this workshop will focus on the various ways the land and environment have fed creative writing.

The authors leading this workshop, and the audience, will read from slave narratives, eco-writing and their own work to prompt discussion on the connections between literature and the environment.

Participants will also explore their own ancestral connections to the land in a dramatic monologue exercise.

The event is free but registration is limited. Register here.

If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.