‘After Angelo’ opens February 25, 2023 with a full day of events at Jamestown Settlement
‘After Angelo’ at Jamestown Settlement
“After Angelo” Showcase on February 25 feature a traditional African Libation by Atumpan Dance Theatre at 12 p.m., followed by a performance from Atumpan Dance Theatre. Visitors can take part in a Community discussion moderated by Barbara Hamm Lee at 2 p.m., Enjoy a performance by Akeylah Simone at 4 p.m.
Schedule of Events on Saturday Feb. 25:
- 12-12:30 p.m. Opening Libation Ceremony & Performance by Atumpan Dance Theatre
- 1-1:30 p.m. Atumpan Dance Theatre
- 1:30 p.m. Sylvia Tabb Lee & Rejoicing Singers
- 2-3 p.m. Community discussion moderated by Barbara Hamm Lee
- 3 p.m. Sylvia Tabb Lee & Rejoicing Singers
- 4-4:45 p.m. Performance by Akeylah Simone, singer, songwriter and recording artist from the Hampton Roads area. In her first year of her original debut release, Simone has four songs on the 2021 and 2022 Grammy Ballot and was voted Encore’s 2021 Best Solo Artist. She has been nominated as Best New Artist by Soul Tracks Reader’s Choice Awards and for Song of the Year & Best R&B/Soul by Veer Awards. Simone has performed over the past 10 years, from her debut in an elementary school talent contest to frequenting the stages with her father Bobby Blackhat.
Throughout the year and in honor of Black History Month in February, Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown present gallery exhibits, films and educational programs that recount the experiences of Africans and African Americans in early America, from the first known West Central Africans in Virginia in 1619 to the contributions of African Americans in the Revolutionary War.
On Saturday, February 25, “After Angelo” returns to Jamestown Settlement for a special one-day event honoring the legacy of the first African woman mentioned by name in the historical record at Jamestown, featuring a lively celebration of African-American culture and heritage and conclude with a performance of original music by Akeylah Simone, singer, songwriter and recording artist from the Hampton Roads area.
Throughout the day, art by African-American artists will be on display, some of which will be available for purchase.
$18 adults, $9 ages 6-12. Children under 6 are free. Free admission for residents of James City County,
York County and the City of Williamsburg, including William & Mary students, with proof of residency.
West Central African Exhibits, Films & Education Programs at Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown Settlement’s permanent exhibition galleries feature one of the most varied collections of objects relating to the nation’s beginnings in 17th-century Virginia, including more than 500 objects representative of the Powhatan Indian, European and West Central African cultures. The documentary film, “1607: A Nation Takes Root,” shown every 30 minutes, traces the evolution of the Virginia Company that sponsored the Jamestown colony, examines the relationship between the English colonists and the Powhatan Indians, and chronicles the arrival of the first recorded Africans in 1619, and features scenes filmed in Angola.
The skill of West Central African craftsmen, as well as African contact with Europeans, is reflected in a pair of bronze bracelets from Benin whose decorations include stylized pictures of Portuguese soldiers, and an Owo carved ivory bracelet, an example of an object highly valued by European collectors. In a diorama representing the Ndongan culture of the first known Africans in Virginia, 30 objects from the Ambundu culture of Angola are exhibited courtesy of the Mercer Museum of the Bucks County Historical Society in Doylestown, Pa. The Ambundu were part of the Ndongo kingdom in the 16th and 17th centuries. Collected in the early 20th century by Swedish American scholar Amandus Johnson, the Ambundu artifacts are similar to the weapons, tools and personal items used by 17th-century Ndongans.
Education programs on select dates in February will allow visitors to learn about the culture, society and technology of West Central Africa, the first recorded arrival of Africans to Virginia in 1619, and stories of Africans in Virginia and their shift in status as laws changed, developing into the institution of slavery. Education programs in exhibit galleries feature reproduction African objects, images and documents, exploring aspects of African tools, weaponry, transportation, housing, clothing and ornamentation.
