The fifth edition of Black Love Fest is slated to take place on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Hunter’s Field and will honor the legacy of New Orleans civil rights stalwart Jerome “Big Duck” Smith.

The event is being organized by The Black School, a nonprofit that teaches residents to use art and activism to create change in their communities.

Shani Peters and Joseph Cuillier, co-founders of The Black School and the organizers of Black Love Fest, say the festival was inspired by similar events that have been organized across the U.S. for a number of years such as ones in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco. The idea of these festivals is centered around “love and its role in the black community,” Peters said.

“We want the focus to be on community,” Peters said.

The festival will feature performances from local musicians such as Flagboy Giz, Jaime Woods and $leazy EZ, an interactive art installation by local artist Monique Lorden and a photo exhibit honoring Smith. In addition to music and art, there will be voter registration, nonprofits like the Louisiana Fair Housing Project and Southern Poverty Law Center and vendors from Black-owned businesses. 

“It’s always a chance to also help the community out and put money out into the people’s pockets in the community,” Flagboy Giz said of the event. Giz, a native of the 9th Ward, attended the event last year and is the headlining musical act this year.

This is the fifth Black Love Fest the Black School has organized. Peters and Cuillier held the first and second editions in New York City in 2017 and 2018, the third in Houston in 2019 and moved the festival to New Orleans for 2022 after Peters and Cuiller moved to the region to be closer to family.

“I think New Orleans is an inspiration, and you can see it in everyday life that the history and the creativity is taught in a way that is non-normative,” Cuiller said. “It’s about culture. It’s about occupying public space. It’s about spirituality …. It makes New Orleans the perfect site and setting for Black Love Fest.”

Hunter’s Field was established in the late 1960s after Jerome “Big Duck” Smith organized protests to have the area designated as a public space.
Hunter’s Field was established in the late 1960s after Jerome “Big Duck” Smith organized protests to have the area designated as a public space. Credit: John Gray/Verite News

The legacy of Jerome “Big Duck” Smith 

The festival is being held at Hunter’s Field, a historic gathering spot for New Orleanians since the 1960s. Smith led a protest in order to create the space, motivated by the lack of space for children to play after the Claiborne Corridor was built. Earlier this month, Hunter’s Field was chosen as the starting point for a second line honoring Frankie Beverly.

In addition to the Hunter’s Field protest, Smith was a Freedom Rider, organizer for the Congress on Racial Equality and founder of Tambourine and Fan, a local community organization. He also spoke candidly with Robert F. Kennedy, who was the U.S. Attorney General, about the state of race relations in the U.S. 

“It’s important to highlight the young folks that he (Jerome Smith) organized who led that movement to go down to City Hall and reclaim this green space for the community,” Cuillier said.

The organizers are trying to get Smith to attend the festival and work with The Black School students to interview him for a “larger exhibit project.”

“There’s a lot of history, I think, built in, into how the programming was selected. So I think there’s also an opportunity to learn more about New Orleans cultural history and black cultural history within the presentations that are going to be present,” said Tiffany Smith, a photographer who has hosted a portrait station at every Black Love Fest the Black School has hosted.

For more information, visit blacklovefest.org.

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