Events

To bolster Wilmington's recent efforts to support racial justice reforms and the ideals espoused by the Black Lives Matter movement, Mayor Mike Purzycki today announced a series of community-created and supported events and visual art initiatives that the Mayor said sends an important message about Wilmington's support for equality and fairness.

Mayor Purzycki said recent meetings with community representatives, such as artist and musician Richard Raw and artist and community organizer Vanity Constance and which included input from City Council President Hanifa Shabazz, have produced upcoming events and art installations for which Wilmington should feel proud.

These include:

• An August 13 at 6 p.m. ceremony at which time the Pan African RGB Flag will be raised in its new permanent location in Spencer Plaza, which is, in its own right, an important and historic site in local African American history. The date of the flag raising is significant because it marks the 100th anniversary of the August 13, 1920 signing of the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro People of the World by the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) chaired by Marcus Garvey. This document is one of the earliest and most comprehensive human rights declarations in U. S. history. The event will include City government and community speakers, as well as singing by Nadjah Nicole and performances by the Twin Poets (State Poet Laureates Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Al Mills) and Richard Raw. Because of social distancing requirements due to Covid-19, attendees at the event will be limited, but the event will be live-streamed so people around the City can enjoy it.
• On August 24, the first of a series of installations of Black Cultural Art in the City will begin at the intersection of 4th and Market Streets in Downtown Wilmington. The Tribal African Color Palette will be painted by local community artists onto one of the two 4th Street crosswalks at this busy City intersection. Eventually, the second 4th Street crosswalk at Market Street will also become part of the program. Managed by City Cultural Affairs Director Tina Betz and Local Street Art Group Organizer Vanity Constance, additional crosswalk art locations will soon be announced in order to spread Black Cultural Art throughout the City.
• Mayor Purzycki will soon convene a group of individuals for a discussion about how the new fountain in Wilmington's Rodney Square can become part of the ongoing commemoration of local and national historic efforts to promote racial equality.
• The City government and community meetings have also produced another visual art project which involves the painting of a mural in Freedom Plaza, which is the courtyard and public meeting space in between the Redding City/County Government Building and the Carvel State Government Building on French Street. The mural would replace a sky and cloud patterned mural which graces a side wall of the Redding Building and serves as the backdrop for a stage that is used for music performances and other community-related events.

"These upcoming efforts are just the beginning of a substantive drive by government and the community to send a clear message to our own residents, to those who conduct business in Wilmington, and to those who visit us that we are committed to creating a just city where all members of our community are cared for and treated with equal respect while being empowered to pursue their individual dreams and aspirations," said Mayor Purzycki.

The Mayor said Wilmington is committed to supporting national and global efforts to elevate the lives of Black people. Through the release of the Wilmington Police Department's operations manual for public review for the first time ever, through verifying that the WPD complies with the 8 Can't Wait principles and by reenergizing the City's Civil Rights Commission, Wilmington is moving forward to build trust, support racial justice, and create a City and a world that is free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive.

About the Pan African Flag
The red, black, and green flag that will fly prominently in Wilmington in Spencer Plaza, is referred to as the Pan-African, Marcus Garvey, UNIA, or Black Liberation flag and serves as both a cultural and political ideology for the solidarity of peoples of African descent. With its horizontal red, black, and green stripes, it was adopted by the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) at a conference in New York City in 1920. For several years prior to this time, UNIA leader Marcus Garvey talked about the need for a Black liberation flag as a necessary symbol of political maturity. Red in the flag stands for blood — both the blood shed by Africans who died in their fight for liberation, and the shared blood of the African people; Black represents Black people; and green is a symbol of growth and the natural fertility of Africa.

About Peter Spencer Plaza
During a major urban renewal project in 1967, a decision was made to build a new government office complex on French Street for city, state, and federal offices. The Mother AUMP Church (African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church) started by Peter Spencer in 1813, was the first independent Black denomination in the country. It was located where the plaza is today on a portion of the proposed government complex on French Street between 8th and 9th Streets. The plaza was also the site of the first Big Quarterly (or August Quarterly), which was started by Spencer in 1814. After a period of negotiation, the congregation relocated, and the church building was demolished. In its place "Peter Spencer Plaza" was created.

At the heart of the plaza is a statue that commemorates Peter Spencer, who was born in 1782 and died in 1843. The plaza statue, "Father and Son," was placed there in 1973. Created by Delaware sculptor Charles Parks, it depicts a black male figure cradling a sleeping child in his arms. Larger-than-life and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, the man is not a direct representation of the religious leader but rather a symbol of the hope for the future that he inspired. The remains of Peter Spencer, his wife Annes, and ten of his followers are interred in a vault beneath the statue. After Spencer's death, there was a split in the church. The African Union Methodist Episcopal Church (AUMP) and the Union American Methodist Episcopal (UAME) both trace their history to the original church at 819 French Street.

This press release was produced by the City of Wilmington.