Blood & Spirit: Black Families Evolving

Oral historian and author, Julie Rainbow, weaves her love and honor of African American elders and ancestors into her daily professional and personal practice. Her mission is to amplify the voices of elders, and she does so through her books, oral history projects and daily communion. Keeping a daily ritual of sitting with elders since she was a little girl, Julie experienced nonjudgmental love. She says when we release the "illusion of time" we can sit with elders for more than a five-minute conversation, and discover unique and interesting individuals.

Dr. Veronica Adams-Cooper reveals the birth of the Artesian Renaissance, a resurgent flow of arts and humanities in the Western Hemisphere, led by ARTriumph Historical Society. Honoring the triumphant spiritual legacy of Africans in the Americas, Spiritual Midwives from around the country join her to broadcast the birthing via YouTube on August 1, 2019, and to "Celebrate a New Season, A New Story and a New Song." Dr. Adams Cooper shares her own story of triumph over despair, and her choice to answer "the call on her life to help people of color heal from traumatic experiences."

South Philadelphia born and raised, Nana Kofi Tuuda now shares the ancient African wisdom of Sankofa, to help us gain cultural and spiritual grounding as Africans in America. For over 35 years, Nana Tuuda has been Ancestrally led to Ghana, West Africa, where he built bridges of understanding between Ghanaian-born Africans and Africans born in North America. As the officially enstooled Agogo Nkabomhene, or king, he shares Akan traditional wisdom regarding family and community.

Mother, Poet and Farmer, Tannur Shewrightz Ali talks about the relationships of mutual cultivation that surround her growth. Her homestead, Solomon's Garden, is a blossoming of the vision that inspired the creation of iLOGIC: Institute for the Love of Genius in Community.

Quinton Gaines is an Albany native artist and activist, fighting for representation of our authentic selves in the media. Quenton is passionate about complete and total expression, living life in a flow that creates greater understanding.