Over the past 19 months, the nation has witnessed a deliberate erosion of democracy and human rights under the current administration. “We The People Walk For Democracy” is meant to unify our voices to safeguard our democracy and to raise awareness about voting, while teaching young people the importance of being civically engaged.
Please join us for this walk, which is FREE to the public, with a mapped-out route from Riverside Gardens Park to the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center. However, you must register, and with a $35 donation, you will receive a “We The People” T-shirt, button, and sign.
Speakers include: Rev. Kerwin Webb, Chairman of the Board of the T. Thomas Fortune Foundation and Monmouth County former judge, the Honorable John D’Amico, along with the Fortune Tellers, youth tour guides who work at the Cultural Center. We are garnering community support and look forward to more organizations joining us on this walk.
Thomas Fortune was a man of action, and as the prominent editor of the New York Age, he was a significant member of the Black Press, which changed the social, political, and economic landscape of America. In 2027, the Cultural Center will commemorate and celebrate the Bicentennial of the Black Press.
Our mission as a non-profit organization is to uphold the civil rights and social justice legacy of T. Thomas Fortune through education, the arts, public programming and community outreach.
The following community organizations stand in support of “We The People Walk For Democracy.”
Lunch Break
Grunin Foundation
Pilgrim Baptist
The United Methodist Church of Red Bank
Two River Theater
Project Write Now
League of Women Voters
Following the walk, there will be light refreshments, music, and continued fellowship. Please visit our website www.tthomasfortuneculturalcenter.org to register.
]]>The Start of Black Music Month
Thursday, June 1, 6-8 pm
It Ain’t Nothing but the Blues
All the way from the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Rolando Herts will make a guest appearance to bring us greetings and enlightenment about the musical legacy of the Mississippi Delta Blues, the foundation for America’s original sound of Jazz, Gospel, R&B and Hip-Hop. This event, in conjunction with the Jersey Jazz & Blues Foundation, kicks off Black Music Month. Dr. Rolando Herts is the Director of The Delta Center of Cultural Learning, at Delta State University in Mississippi. Musical guest TBA, bring your own lawn chairs. FREE EVENT! You MUST register to be seated at [email protected]
The Start of JUNETEENTH WEEK
Sunday, June 11 – 12 Noon-3 pm
T. Thomas Fortune Lecture Series @ Two River Theater
On A Sunday Afternoon with Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, guest speaker for The T. Thomas Fortune 2023 Lecture Series and Luncheon, in conjunction with Two River Theater. Dr. Muhammad is a leading scholar and the Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race & Public Policy at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, and the former Director of The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in NYC.
He is the author of The Condemnation of Blackness. The T. Thomas Fortune Foundation is thrilled to have him join us at Two River Theater, to help launch the new upcoming exhibit, The Black Press: Stewards of Democracy. His talk will be followed by the matinee show of Two Sisters & A Piano, which is about revolution and freedom, by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Nilo Cruz. To purchase tickets log onto the website www.tthomasfortunefoundation.org and click on the Dr. Muhammad image, tickets are $100. Doors open at 11:30 am.
12:00 -1 pm – Lunch and meet & greet with Dr. Khalil G. Muhammad
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm – keynote address and Q & A
3 pm – Two Sisters & A Piano
Black History Bus Tour Sites in Monmouth County
Tuesday, June 13, 10 am – 3 pm
Get on the bus for Part I of the Black Historic Sites Tour sponsored by Brookdale Community College Lifelong Learning Program. The tour guides will be Historian Rick Geffken and Gilda Rogers, Brookdale History Professor, and executive director of the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center. The bus will depart from Brookdale at 10 am and make stops at Wampum Park, the site where Samuel “Mingo” Jack Johnson was lynched in Eatontown; Cedar View Cemetery in Lincroft; and the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, where lunch will be served. For more information contact Noreen Kane at
[email protected]
A Swinging JUNETEENTH Holiday
Friday, June 16, 6 – 9 pm
Celebrating Count Basie
Late Night Basie is the recently released tribute album to William “Count” Basie, the “Kid from Red Bank,” which features musicians such as Terence Blanchard and Jazzmeia Horn, The Count Basie Orchestra, Talib Kweli and more.
The Listening Party will kick-off with a discussion by Vincent Pelote, the Senior Archivist and Digital Preservation Strategist at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University- Newark, who will take us on a jazz excursion of the Late Night Basie album. Pelote is one of the contributors to the Oxford Companion to Jazz. Join us for a SWINGIN’ GOOD TIME! Music and refreshments provided. FREE EVENT! Donations accepted. Register to be seated with
[email protected]
The Shoulders on Which We Stand
Saturday, June 17, 3-5 pm
Author Talk with Marcia Young Cantarella
A Great Civil Rights Leader’s Daughter, Marcia Young Cantarella, will sign her book, Recognize & Give Thanks and talk about her father the great Whitney M. Young, who was the Executive Director of the National Urban League, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. As a trained social worker, Whitney M. Young was the architect behind President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”
Young, a member of the Big 6 Civil Rights Leaders (A Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, James Farmer, John Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King), played a pivotal role in helping to usher in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, under the Johnson Administration.
Cost: $35 including the book and refreshments. A family-friendly event. Register with [email protected]
]]>The Cultural Center is inviting businesses and organizations to participate in this town-wide campaign to amplify Basie’s name – the first African American male to win a Grammy Award in 1958 and 1959. Find out how your business and organization can be a part of this year-long event.
“We’re excited about The Year of Basie,” said Gilda Rogers, Vice-President of the T. Thomas Fortune Foundation. “We’ve already received a thumbs up from The Count Basie Performing Arts Center, Detour Gallery, The Community YMCA, and Two River Theater, to be a part of the campaign.” You can expect to see exhibits, jazz events, giveaways and for restaurants, a cocktail named “Down for the Count,” along with a map that will point out different locations throughout the town that in some way are connected to Count Basie. The T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center hopes to involve many other establishments in this year-long celebration.
“A Love Letter to Count Basie” is a beautiful way for Red Bank, Basie’s hometown, to show The Count, some LOVE (b. 1904-d. 1984). The letters will be read by specially invited guests, in between musical performances courtesy of the Jazz Arts Project. The letters will become a part of a Count Basie exhibit that will open at the Cultural Center later in the year.
Also included in the line-up for the evening is Wayne Winborne, executive director of The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) at Rutgers University/Newark. IJS is now home to the Count Basie collection of nearly 1,000 artifacts that belonged to the late jazz icon. Some of his artifacts will be coming home to Red Bank later in the year when the Cultural Center opens the Basie exhibit, courtesy of the IJS.
Basie was inspired by Red Bank to play the piano and to be a great entertainer, and he did not disappoint his hometown. Known for being one of the “hippest” towns around, Red Bank must give Basie some credit for putting Red Bank on the map, and popularizing jazz – America’s Original Sound. “A swinging concept,” according to Basie – The King of Swing.
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