MetroMorphosis Releases Document & Tells the Story of Black Baton Rouge Yesterday and Today
Baton Rouge, La – On January 29, 2021, MetroMorphosis launched its 2021 Black History month campaign entitled Black Futures: A Sankofa Series. The campaign includes a city-wide celebration of the history of Black Baton Rouge that has been captured in a document they are releasing titled, Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today: Looking Back to Effectively Move Forward.
Inspired by the Ghanian word Sankofa which has been interpreted to mean “it is not too taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot”, Black Baton Rouge Yesterday & Today explores the rich history of Black Baton Rouge from the perspective of its Black community members in an effort to go back and learn from the history that is often forgotten and use it to create a plan for the future.
The report was co-authored by Dr. Lori Martin Professor at LSU and Chris Tyson, Director of Build Baton Rouge and former Professor at LSU Law and will be at the center of a number of celebratory events and conversations starting in February.
To engage the community in this celebration, MetroMorphosis is strategically sharing the document with a variety of community stakeholders including churches, non profit organizations, influencers, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, city elected officials and businesses across Baton Rouge to encourage conversations across communities and generations. They have also planned trivia challenges that will offer prizes to participants across their socials and are encouraging citizens to capture and share stories of family and community members as a way to preserve oral histories for the future.
They kicked off the month long celebration, on February first in honor of the life and legacy of Baton Rouge native and activist Sadie Roberts – Joseph and her dedication to preserving the history of African Americans in Baton Rouge, MetroMorphosis will be presenting the first copy of this historic document to the Baton Rouge African American History Museum
Following the event there will be a panel discussion focused on the rich history of Scotlandville hosted by North Baton Rouge Now with the support of MetroMorphosis at Southern Cofe on February sixth. On February 20th, there will be a virtual panel discussion on the document itself hosted by the Main Library at Goodwood featuring co-authors Dr. Lori Martin and Chris Tyson and facilitated by Raymond A. Jetson.
To end the month there will be a Black History Month program taking place virtually featuring students from schools across the East Baton Rouge Public School System and two intergenerational talks featuring Maxine Crump, Myra Richardson, Press Robinson and Anthony Kenny.
To ensure that this history is available for future generations,the EBRPSS has accepted a curriculum put forth by Humanities Amped and will utilize the document during instruction to teach students the history of Black Baton Rouge and students will then showcase this knowledge during their Black History Program.
Event Schedule:
February 1 at 12 Noon on Facebook Live MetroMorphosis will dedicate the first copy of the document to the Baton Rouge African American History Museum.
February 6 at 10AM at Southern Cofe and Streamed to Facebook Live, North Baton Rouge Now will be hosting a conversation around the document and Scotlandville.
February 8 – 13 Online Trivia Challenges on the MetroMorphosis Socials.
February 20 at 3pm on Facebook Live and Zoom a live discussion with co authors Chris Tyson and Dr. Lori Martin hosted by the Main Library and facilitated by Raymond A. Jetson.
February 26 from 8am – 2pm on YouTube Live the East Baton Rouge School System Black History Month Program will happen in virtual sessions.
For the most current information about the Black Futures: A Sankofa Series please follow MetroMorphosis on Facebook and Instagram.
You can also visit www.metromorphosis.net on February first.
For more information, contact Tamiera Nash, tamiera@metromorphosis.net, Communications Catalyst