A Blessed Day!!!

My digital camera is not the best. Today had so many things going on and I missed some of the action! The Jubilee Festival of Heritage at the Mann-Simons Cottage was great! Celia Mann was an enslaved midwife from Charleston, SC, who gained her freedom. She walked to Columbia in the 1840s. She got herself a cottage in downtown Columbia, not far from what is now Benedict College. She was able to buy other properties and even rented out to white tenants! Yes, this home is historical and has great significance to African-Americans in this state. The festival is a commemoration of Celia Mann’s achievements and the heritage of her descendants. So they had performers, artisans, and re-enactors that highlighted the black community and represented our traditions. They represented well! There was some great singing from the local black church choirs. Some sang with music accompaniment, some using just the beat of the heels on the floor and hand claps to stay in tune. Yes, it took me back. Benedict Choir is super! Those young kids have a gift. Even the little kids playing the steel drums were awesome. Fatback & the Groove Band did their thing, too. There others, but I didn’t intend to stay all day, I wanted to get to the Latin Music Festival, too, in the middle of downtown. But, my favorite at the Jubilee was talking to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment actors. I sat with them for 3 hours listening to their war stories. Denzel Washington & Morgan Freeman represented them well in the movie “Glory” fighting in the Civil War. After I left there, I went to the Latin Music and enjoyed watching the Salsa dancing and listening to the music. You have to understand that music from the Caribbean, Cuba, Honduras, etc., were derived from the African slaves who were dropped off in route to Charleston and other points in the U. S. What a blessed day!