In an era where Black history faces systematic erasure, we gather tonight not just to celebrate, but to resist This year’s Juneteenth Experience centers on the theme of nonerasure a deliberate act of preservation, remembrance, and defiance
Tonight's performance honors the layered histories of Juneteenth while centering the rich narratives of Black Miami-Dade and Broward communities. Through music, dance, poetry, multimedia, and heart, we explore how local stories connect to national struggles for liberation and how contemporary voices carry forward ancestral wisdom. The imagery you'll witness throughout this evening represents both creative interpretation and archival documentation. We've woven together historical photographs, documents, and artifacts with contemporary artistic visions, creating a visual dialogue between past and present. These elements serve as testimony that our stories cannot be silenced, sanitized, or forgotten.
Every story told, every song sung, every image preserved becomes part of our collective archive. When traditional institutions fail to preserve our narratives, we become the keepers of our own history. When others attempt to erase our contributions, we amplify our voices. When silence is imposed, we create spaces for truth to flourish.
Tonight, we transform this theater into a living archive where history breathes, moves, and inspires. You are not just witnessing this preservation; you are participating in it. In the absence of truth, we become the archive.
With gratitude and determination,
Kunya Rowley
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
Picture it: the year is 2425, and we are gathering.
We gather to honor the planted roots of our ancestors that would bear trees and fruits and go on to create generations of brilliance, creativity, grit, and resilience. We gather to honor our history Miami history, Broward history, our history We gather as a form of resistance, as an act of remembrance. We gather because, despite the persistent, pervasive attempts to erase our history, we are still here.
We made it.
At this gathering of aunties, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, family we remember, we honor, we hope, we dream. Centuries later, our history is still here. We are still here.
This performance is an act of preserving our history, perpetuating it forward, and prophesying its continuance for generations to come
We want this performance to activate a sense of remembrance and to be an active declaration of memory amidst erasure and collective amnesia. But we don't want to only locate the conversation in the past. We want to move it through space and time into the present and beyond, into the future
This performance is a reminder that we are the archive. When we take a picture, when we pass down a story, when we document our experiences we are archiving. We become the proof that no matter how hard they try, our stories will not be silenced. We made it, and we're still making it.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This land, presently called the United States of America, is built upon stolen land with stolen bodies. We honor the sanctity of this land and of our water and it is with deep gratitude and respect that we acknowledge the first inhabitants and their descendants.
The Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes are thriving modern nations stewarding and protecting the land and waters that we all need to exist. Please reach out and visit the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes Cultural Facilities and support their ecological initiatives that are for all living and non-living. We encourage you to find kinship in your own lives with the land, water, and all our relatives.
Hued Songs partnered with Miccosukee filmmaker Montana Cypress to devise a video land acknowledgement for this event. The work inserts Indigenous history firmly in view, as both a celebration of our past and a reclamation of Indigenous futures. The performance of this Land Acknowledgement will play before the start of the program. To learn more about Montana Cypess, visit www.montanacypress.com.
Engage:
Love the Everglades
Seminole Tribune
Miccosukee Airboats
'The Storm' music video
RESILIENCE OVER UMPH BELONGING PRESERV OPTIMISM TO SS M
OVERCOMING TRIUMPH
JA’NIA HARDEN LENORA JAYE
JUNE 14TH
JUNE 18TH
JUNE 19TH
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
The imagery & voices you'll witness & hear throughout this performance represents both creative interpretation and archival documentation. We've woven together historical photographs, documents, and artifacts with contemporary artistic visions, creating a visual dialogue between past and present. These elements serve as testimony that our stories cannot be silenced, sanitized, or forgotten.
honoring our genius children
Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Founder of the Black Archives
The role that Black Bahamians have played in the settling and shaping of South Florida cannot be overlooked. Establishing agriculture, expertise in coral rock construction, fishing industries and foundational infrastructure of South Florida.
We honor the many Genius Children who have shaped South Florida. Learn more about the names you’ll hear read:
Eula Johnson (1906–2001)
Joseph Caleb (1932–1972)
Judge Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. (1938 – 2003)
Dr. James Sistrunk (1891–1966)
Gwen Cherry (1923–1979)
Will “Da Real One” Bell (1964–2011)
Dr. Enid Pinkney (1931-2024)
LACKJOYOPTIMI ETH
RESILI VER
M. Athalie Range (1915–2006)
Dr. Marvin Dunn, historian
ONGING PRESERV
TOGETHERNESS
Psychologist and historian Marvin Dunn was born in DeLand, Florida in 1940 to migrant farm workers. After graduating from Morehouse College and serving in the Navy, he earned his Ph.D. and taught at Florida International University for 34 years. He's authored several books on Florida's Black history and race relations.
ACKJOY OPTIMISM TOGET
Y & MEMORY
ESILIENCE OVER
N
OMING TRIUMPH
Wade-ins & swim-ins occurred at beaches and swimming pools across Florida, including Baker's Haulover Beach in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale beach. These non violent protests were demonstrations to assert the right to use white-only designated public facilities, beaches and swimming pools. In 2016, Broward County’s formerly colored beach– John U. Lloyd State Park -- was renamed for Eula Johnson and Dr. Von D. Mizell.
LACKJOYOPTIMISMTOGETH
OPTIMISM TOGET M
There is an inextrciable connection between Black South Florida dance culture, Spirituality and the Black Church. Music, clapping, stomping and bass lines dancing the body electric in ways that easily provoke ancestral memory of diasporic origins.
OVERCOMIN H
REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING
H.T. SMITH
Miami-Dade County’s first Black assistant public defender and later its first Black assistant county attorney. He went on to establish Miami’s first Black-owned law firm in downtown Miami and has shaped the legal and social landscape of South Florida. in March 2025, H.T. Smith Street was named between Northwest 22nd and Northwest 27th avenues.
McDuffie Riots
On May 18 , 1980, riots erupted in Miami after the acquittal of four Dade County police officers who had beaten Arthur McDuffie to death, a black man killed during a traffic stop. The riots resulted th in 18 deaths an estimated $100 million in property damage and hundreds of injuries.
In February 2024, the Arthur Lee McDuffie marker was unveiled at the corner of N. Miami Avenue and NE 38th Street near the Miami Design District to commemorate the life stolen just over 45 years ago.
ELEMENTS OF BEING
ESERVEBLAC S NESSMOTIVAT
"Elements of Being'' is an immersive, multisensory experience fusing art and activism through a narrative-based installation. Presented by Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) x We Oppose Violence Everywhere Now (WOVEN), this groundbreaking collaboration intertwines diverse voices and art forms as catalysts for environmental, social, and racial justice.
THE FILMS
PAST
= FUTURE FILMMAKER: MONTANA CYPRESS
Part prose, part poetry, this Land Acknowledgment film by Miccosukee filmmaker Montana Cypress was commissioned by Hued Songs to honor the Native lands which we inhabit
CONSISTENT GARDENERS | COREY DAVIS & ALEXA CARRAVIA
What happens when a group of Miami musicians has just three days to create a new justice anthem? Follow a preacher’s kid, semi-retired opera singer, and a dreamer as they lead an experiment to find out what it takes for artists' ideas to flourish in the face of adversity
BOAT PEOPLE | AL'IKENS PLANCHER
Boat People is a film about liberation not as a final destination, but as a decision. Boat People tells the story of Marie, a Haitian refugee detained at Guantánamo Bay in the early 1990s Through hunger strike and quiet refusal, she reclaims her body, her voice, and her right to be more than what the system allows
THE HUB: EPISODE 3; FT. LAUDERDALE | AN H.A.C. (HISTORY, ART, AND CULTURE) PRODUCTION | EMMANUEL GEORGE |
DAVID PAULO | SAMUEL WOODS
The story of Fort Lauderdale's rich Black history is vibrant, from Dillard High School, The Provident, The Sistrunk festival and more This featured episode, part of The Hub series, explores intergenerational stories from locals who grew up across the tracks; their experiences and outlook on the future of their communities
HOOKY | PRINCESS USANGA
Hooky explores the duality of being a secondgeneration Haitian American through Nora’s struggle to balance her cultural roots with her desire for freedom and belonging.
THE PERFORMANCE
Part I: Honoring
Aye, Yo... We made It | Cast | Words by: Arsimmer McCoy, Erron Cooper, & Cast | Music by: King Friday
How Black Bahamians Shaped Miami | Elilay Monet & Ryan Charles-Marc Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields audio from Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
Mama Lay Lay Lay | Erron Cooper & Cast
On Black Ownership of Land on Miami Beach | Clinton Harris Dr. Marvin Dunn audio from Miami Beach Visual Memoirs
I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free | Miriam King & Cast Words & Music by Billy Taylor
A Settling has Happened Here | Arsimmer McCoy & Cast Music by: King Friday, Brittany Graham, Arsimmer McCoy & Cast
Part II: Remember Your Training
Sinner Man & The Ghost Dance Chapter 1 | Cast
Genius Child | J’von Brown | Music by Roberts Owens Words by Langston Hughes
LACKJOYOPTIMISMTOGETH
Hold Fast to Dreams | Jasmine Williams | Music by Florence Price Words by Langston Hughes Oh Freedom | Cast
Ever New | Cast | Words & Music by Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Take me to the Water | Cast
Part
III:
To Hope
I Dream a World | J’von Brown | Music by Rosephanye Powell Words by Langston Hughes
Someday We’ll All Be Free | Erron Cooper Music by Donny Hathaway | Lyrics by Edward Howard
His Eye is on the Sparrow | Jasmine Williams
Part IV: We Persist
Watchu Know about that | Arsimmer McCoy
Over My Head / A Spell to Grow a Garden / I Know I‘ve Been Changed | Cast These pieces were produced as special commissions by Maven Leadership Collective. Learn more in our digital program.
Optimistic & Aggressive Optimism | Arsimmer McCoy & Cast Music & Lyrics by Sounds of Blackness
RESILIENCE OVER UMPH BELONGING PRESERV OPTIMISM TOGETHERNESS M
ABOUT THE PROCESS
The Juneteenth Experience is a devised, collaborative performance born from months of planning, curiosity, and creative exploration We embraced the theme of non-erasure as our foundation. Through intensive workshops, meetings, and honest vulnerability, our creative producer and writer Arsimmer McCoy transformed our collective vision into something extraordinary. We then invited our cast not just to perform, but to shape and guide the work refusing the too-common practice of reducing artists to mere spectators of their own art. This performance embodies what becomes possible when artists bring their complete, authentic selves to the creative process.
The show's closing pieces, Over My Head & A Spell to Grow a Garden, were produced by Maven Leadership Collective under Creative Director Corey Davis. Maven Leadership is an ideas lab that creates conditions for talented queer and trans social impact leaders of color and their allies to build ecosystems of support for more just communities with greater ease, agency, and belonging. Since 2018, Maven has been catalyst, haven, and muse for Hued Songs, championing our work while fostering an ecosystem that celebrates play, curiosity, rest, and innovation. Over My Head and A Spell to Grow a Garden embody what becomes possible when ideas are planted, watered, nourished, and given time, space, and resources to flourish. Learn more about Maven Leadership Collective's impact here.
Wilkie Ferguson III Band: Keys 2 & Vocal Supervisor
Diego Melgar Band: Guitar
Charles Farquharson AKA Pac Jam 305
Historian: Miami-Dade
Emmanuel george
Historian: Broward
Eric Nelson Technical Director & Lighting
Sandi Stock Production Manager & Stage Manager
Quincy Knowles Sound & Projection Supervisor
THANK YOU
Thank you does not even begin to articulate our gratitude. Thank you to our incredible cast and band of this performance for putting every ounce of their being into this performance; our Partners on Purpose and rehearsal home, The Marshall L. Davis Sr. African Heritage Cultural Arts Center and the leaders who fuel it, including Marshall Davis Sr., Teddy Harrell, Isis Roberts, Bayunga Kialeuka; Ms Charlayne W Thompkins; Our set designer, Seth Howard; set builders, MNM Builds; Ace Anderson; our production assistants- Pedro Rodriguez and Kai Cooper; Church by the Sea; Corey Davis & Maven Leadership Collective; Alexa Carravia; Indie House Films; Our incredible Board of Directors. Most of all, thank YOU for joining us and being apart of this living, breathing archive.
a tax-deductible donation
Hued Songs creates experiences that amplify Black joy, creativity, and Belonging, operating under three central tenets:
1) To provide a platform through which BIPOC artists can be seen, heard, and paid;
2) The arts are a right and not a privilege, thus we work to remove cost, geography, and perception barriers to every performance;
3) Every performance is an opportunity to build belonging, empathy, and community for all For more, visit huedsongs.org. Want to support Hued
