City Readies For 3rd Black Wall Street

A fashion show, film festival, investing summit, and 200-vendor fair on the Green are all on tap for this year’s third annual Black Wall Street – an example of city staff and local entrepreneurs teaming up to ​“turn the hate from the past into hope for the future.”

That latter quote was how accomplished local business leader and Black economic development booster Erik Clemons described this year’s coming festival, which was the subject of a crowded and celebratory press conference Wednesday afternoon on the second floor of City Hall.

The festival’s name pays tribute to the Black Wall Street of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma – a prosperous, self-sufficient Black community that in May 1921 saw hundreds of residents killed and millions of dollars worth of property damage in one of the worst anti-Black racial massacres in this nation’s history.

As city arts director Adriane Jefferson and The Breed Entertainment Co-Founders Aaron Rogers and Rashad Johnson said, this year’s fest will take place on the Green on Saturday, Aug. 17 from 12 to 8 p.m. That’s when an estimated 210 Black vendors — everyone from auto detailers to ​“holistic wellness” business owners — will set up shop, promote their work, and meet new customers and fellow entrepreneurs.

Jefferson said that New Haven’s Black Wall Street has grown from 35 vendors in 2022 to 150 last year to more than 200 this year. ​“We’re hoping that the attendance will continue to grow” as well, she said, noting that several thousand people turned up for last year’s fest. ​“This is not just a festival. It is a movement.”

Rogers and Johnson, meanwhile, noted that, for the first time this year, Black Wall Street is not just one day, but a whole week’s worth of events. Starting on Monday, Aug. 12, there will be an artist showcase at the Cambria Hotel, and then film screenings at Dixwell Plaza, and then a fashion show at The District, and then an Economic Empowerment Summit at City Hall, and more.

“The ancestors are proud. As your elder, I’m proud,” Stetson Librarian Diane Brown said, holding back tears, as she thanked Jefferson, Rogers, and Johnson for their work. ​“I don’t see much around me that gives me hope,” she added. ​“This gives me hope.” 

Brown was so moved by the festival’s existence and growth that, before she took the microphone, she turned around, shook Mayor Justin Elicker’s hand, and gave him a hug. ​“Thank you,” she said.

Clemons commended the festival’s organizers while putting it in the context of the 1921 massacre.

“You all have turned a massacre into a festival,” he said. He praised the event as ​“more than the coming together of Black businesses in the marketplace.” It’s also ​“about the celebration of Black self-determination.”

He continued: ​“It’s about Black people enduring all things as we realize the world we dreamed about” while inviting in people of all cultures and backgrounds and heritages as well. 

“I’m so looking forward to being in community with you,” he said to Jefferson and Rogers and Johnson and those assembled alongside them. ​“Well done.”