Samaná Bicentennial
Sunday, July 14 - Sunday, July 21, 2024
Samaná Town, Dominican Republic
About
2024 marks the 200th anniversary of African American immigration to Samaná in the Dominican Republic. We are an organizing collective facilitating the transnational celebration of this migration's bicentennial. We are working with local community leaders to organize and support events in the Dominican Republic and various locations in the United States. All donations are for bicentennial events led by community members in Samaná. July 14 - 21, 2024, there will be a series of events: history workshops, roundtables with scholars and African American descendants, collecting of oral histories and artifacts, a gastronomy fair, folklore performances, and a festival. We ask that you please donate to support this fully donation-funded programming and plan your trip to join us to honor this legacy of Black freedom seekers!
Brief History
After Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer integrated Spanish Haiti and the Republic of Haiti into one nation in 1822, invitations were extended in 1824 to freed African American communities in the United States. Boyer asked African Americans emigrate and help build the first Black Republic in the Americas. Between 1824 and 1826, upwards of 13,000 African Americans emigrated from Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, the Carolinas, Florida, and other places across the United States to Haiti, which then governed the whole island of Hispaniola. Today, we can find their enduring legacy all over the island, especially in Samaná.
Donate Today!
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The funds will be used to organize community-led bicentennial events in Samaná, Dominican Republic.
Contact Us
Sophia Monegro
Number: +1 (347) 513 - 0911
Email: sophia.monegro@fulbrightmail.org
St. Peter Pator Jerlin Feliz
Number: +1 (829)713-3263
AME Bethel Justino Rodriguez
Number: +1 (809)361-1567
Local Historian Norma Forchure
Number: +1 (829)619-1636
Event Schedule
Sunday, July 14 | 10 am
Bicentennial Opening Service
Pastor Jerlín will lead a service that introduces audience members to the history of the emigration and highlights the historic resilience of African American descendants in Samaná.
Location: St. Peter’s Evangelical Church
Sunday, July 14 | 6 pm
Museo de Samaná Exhibition Opening
Launch of an exhibition on the history, culture, and legacy of African American immigration to Samaná.
Location: Pueblo Bahia Principe
Monday, July 15 | 10 am
Workshop at Biblical School
Topic: "Pride of my Identity"
Led by Wilfredo Benjamin Kelly, Cultural Ambassador and African American descendant. Wilfredo will share a chronology of his ancestral history.
Location: St. Peter’s Evangelical Church
Monday, July 15 | 6 pm
History Talks for Teens/Adults
Topic: "Pride of my Identity"
Led by Wilfredo Benjamin Kelly, Cultural Ambassador and African American descendant. Wilfredo will share a chronology of his ancestral history.
Location: AME Bethel Church
Tuesday, July 16 | 10 am
Workshop at Biblical School
Topic: “Why Samaná? Black Life in the U.S. Before African American Emigration”
Led by Sophia Monegro, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Texas Austin & Fulbright Researcher, a comparative history of slavery in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.
Location: St. Peter’s Evangelical Church
Tuesday, July 16 | 6 pm
History Talks for Teens/Adults
Topic: “Why Samaná? Black Life in the U.S. Before African American Emigration”
Led by Sophia Monegro, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Texas Austin & Fulbright Researcher, a comparative history of slavery in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.
Location: AME Bethel Church
Wednesday, July 17 | 10 am
Workshop at Biblical School
Topic: “‘Cimarrón Spirit: Afro-Dominican Maroon Culture’ Documentary“
Led by Rachel Afi Quinn, Associate Professor Professor at the University of Houston, a viewing of the film and discussion.
Location: St. Peter’s Evangelical Church
Wednesday, July 17 | 6 pm
History Talks for Teens/Adults
Topic: “‘Cimarrón Spirit: Afro-Dominican Maroon Culture’ Documentary“
Led by Rachel Afi Quinn, Associate Professor Professor at the University of Houston, a viewing of the film and discussion.
Location: AME Bethel Church
Thursday, July 18 | 6 pm
Honoring Samaná Pastors
A reunion of African American descendant pastors who emerged from St. Peters and Bethel AME churches.
Location: AME Bethel Church
Friday, July 19 | 9 am
Gastronomy Fair
Vendors from all over Samaná, collection of oral histories and scanning local documents for forthcoming Samaná Museum, booth of Samaná historians sharing local history.
Location: Glorieta del parquesito
Friday, July 19 | 10 am
Workshop at Biblical School
Topic: “Samaná and the Caribbean ”
Led by Ryan Mann-Hamilton, Associate Professor, CUNY and African American descendant.
Location: St. Peter’s Evangelical Church
Saturday, July 20 | 9 am
Gastronomy Fair
Vendors from all over Samaná, collection of oral histories and scanning local documents for forthcoming Samaná Museum, booth of Samaná historians, and folk dance performances.
Location: Glorieta del parquesito
Saturday, July 20 | 2 pm
Bicentenary Festival
March through Samaná town lead by community leaders with floats & t-shirts with the original 33 African American family names that emigrated in 1824.
Location: Starting at the St. Peter’s Evangelical Church
Sunday, July 21 | 10 am
Bicentennial Closing Ceremony
A summary of African American history in the Samaná of yesterday and today, and a choir composed of singers from St. Peter’s, AME, and other churches throughout the island will lead the closing chorus.
Location: Samaná Sports Center
Annual Harvest Celebration
October 27, 2024
Samaná, Dominican Republic, at the
AME Church
The Annual Harvest celebration has been held since the arrival of the African American emigrants in Samana in 1824. The Harvest Celebration occurs in October at the local AME churches and is an event to welcome the new crop season and celebrate the end of the hurricane season.
Community members bring in produce from the garden or farm. Others bake coconut bread or make ginger beer. The food and drinks are distributed among the poor and senior citizens of the community and used to raise funds for the church and the celebration. In addition, the elders play games and sing the hymns their ancestors brought.
St. Peter's Church
C. Theodore Chasereaux 27, Samaná 32000
AME Bethel Church
6M36+RPV Av. William Jhonson, Samaná 32000
Poli Centro Deportivo Samaná
6M37+C3P, Samaná 32000
