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Black Joy Parade Draws 14,000 to Downtown Oakland

Published

8 years ago

March 2, 2018

With heads wrapped in African print cloth, young dancers boogie down Broadway. Photo by Yvette Maria Aldama.

What if you hold a parade and nobody comes?
That was Black Joy Parade founder Elisha Greenwell’s biggest fear on Feb. 25 as 50 contingents comprised of 1,500 people gathered by the Malonga Center at 14th and Alice in downtown Oakland.

With a team of 30 who worked for over six months to get sponsors, publicity, entertainment and black vendors of food, crafts, art and information, the only thing out of their hands was the crowd.

The Black Cowboys in front, the revelers rode, walked, strutted, danced and ‘floated’ up 14th street, while Greenwell held her breath as the parade turned the corner onto Broadway…
And then she heard the cheers and whoops of the welcoming crowd and let out a breath of relief.

A week after ‘The Black Panther’ movie was released, Oakland had a black blockbuster of its own when 14,000 people, mostly Black, came in all of their glory and stayed for hours at the parade end at 20th Street. From the elderly to little girls, the ladies came out with gleaming nails and hair locked up, weaved down, wrapped in cloth, and perfectly coiffed.

Often sporting some semblance of African garb, they greeted each other with radiant smiles and sincere hugs. The men were just as well turned out, groomed and strolling, swagger restrained to just the right setting of coolness.

For Yvette Aldama, the crowd itself was her favorite part of the event. “We were greeting each other by saying ‘Happy Black Joy Day,’ and people responded ‘Happy Black Joy Day to you.’”

Vendor Marisol Catchings of ‘Azteca Negra’ productions almost didn’t make it to the event.

“I was tired that morning and I didn’t feel like going.” While setting up she started to get excited and once the crowd got there she forgot all about her tiredness. Catchings, who sells headwraps, earrings and other accessories was was busy all day teaching people how to wrap their heads and nearly sold out of her crafts. “I forgot I was tired until I was at home and fell into bed.”

Joya Brandon, a member of the Black Teachers Project, knew the group had done the right thing when educators on the sidelines, current and retired, started joining the parade.

“We came out because we wanted people to see that there are still black teachers in Oakland.”

The group, which originated in New York has chapters across the nation dedicated to stemming the exodus of black teachers who have a high rate of burnout.

Also key for Brandon was the opportunity to set up collaborations with other black organizations, in her case, Kelly Carlisle’s Acta Non Verba healthy food and the Black Girl Project.

Greenwell was also especially proud of similar connections for commerce. “It was Black Business Day, too. People did so well. The food vendors practically sold out.”

In the kid-free zone, “Hennessey came through in a nice way,” Greenwell said. “And, at an event with 14,000 people where liquor was sold there were zero arrests and zero injuries. That’s rare.”

Aware that trauma may preclude Black Joy, organizers brought in The Healing Collective and Healing for Black Lives to provide massage, Reiki healings and a relaxation and rest area at the Healing Village. Reshawn ‘Bushmama’ Goods signed up to do energy cleansings and simple divination. Each session takes 20-30 minutes and she was fully booked the whole day. “All my clients said they were really glad they came.”

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf was present and Councilwoman Lynette Gibson-McElhenney gave the Black Joy Parade a proclamation, but Greenwell, who has been asked to bring Black Joy parades to Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., Memphis and Birmingham, gave all the praise to Oakland itself.

“Oakland should take a bow. I didn’t do it. We did it.”

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

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2 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.