Black Storytelling Week is a holiday for passing down Black family history - whether your people are adopted, given, or chosen. We celebrate the second week of Sept (add it to your calendar!), and gather throughout the year to support each other on our kin-keeping journeys.
I’m Martina, a storyteller and cultural worker in Brooklyn. I started Black Storytelling Week in 2023 after trying to interview my normally chatty grandma about her life, and she clammed up. Our time together made me start thinking about how to make passing down stories within our families easier, and how to support the new adults (hello, my fellow Millennials) in stepping into our season as culture bearers.
Pinterest, Source Unknown
Hey Y’all,
I hope the early days of Spring are bringing some fresh energy and feelings of renewal. I’ve started to acknowledge the season as the true new year it is - so if you could use a restart on 2026, Happy New Year to you, too!
Thank you to everyone who came out to our February Convening. I loved meeting so many folks doing the important, sacred work of discovering and keeping their family stories. Learning more about what’s coming up for you in your journeys got my gears turning. I took time to download what you shared and am re-emerging with exciting updates, including a calendar of events for Black kin-keepers this spring.
Starting this month, our Convenings will move to monthly, so mark your calendars for last the Wednesday of each month from 7-8:30pm ET. The focus of these Convenings will rotate according to the needs surfaced in February: dedicated time to do research, space to ask questions and get unstuck, and an outlet to share our family discoveries and stories. Guest speakers from the Black Storytelling Week community and special events will be sprinkled in.
Lastly, I’m also introducing a suggested contribution of $10 for all Convenings, to support the costs of keeping the work going. Please offer what you can!
Spring is full! In addition to monthly Convenings, we’re hosting special events with two friends of ours, Imagination Doulas and We The Diaspora.
April 15 · “Where Yo People From” — The Lands that Keep Us, Part 1
7:30–9PM EDT · 🌐 Virtual · In partnership with Imagination Doulas
The Lands that Keep Us is an intimate three-part story circle series, led by Imagination Doulas, which honors Black relationships to land. “Where Yo People From” is the first session, a story circle about family roots, places of origin, memories of land, and stories passed down by elders about Black landowners and placemakers.
April 29 · Discovery Hour - Black Storytelling Week Monthly Convening
7-8:30PM EDT · 🌐 Virtual · Suggested contribution: $10
Discovery Hour is a coworking session for the family historian. Come through to make some progress on your family history project. Use the time how you like, maybe start or continue research, prepare questions to ask a family member, organize previous findings, or create a family presentation or website.
May 13 · (We Are) Of This Land Showcase - The Lands That Keep Us, Part 2
7:30–9PM ET · 🌐 Virtual · In partnership with Imagination Doulas
Join us for Part 2 of The Lands That Keep Us. (We Are) Of This Land is a showcase centering on artifacts — photographs, articles, family heirlooms, documents — anything that symbolizes your historical and present relationship with the lands we come from, the ancestral homes we long for, and our visions of a spatially reparative future.
May 27 · Community Jam - Black Storytelling Week Monthly Convening
7-8:30PM EDT · 🌐 Virtual · Suggested contribution: $10
Not sure how to navigate asking questions to an elder? Need help finding a name or date in your research? Let the community help you towards your breakthrough. Community Jam is a hands-on and reciprocal session for getting unstuck. Bring a question, and together we’ll help each other find a path forward.
June 6 · Gather & Tell: Community Storytelling Circle
Details TBA ·📍 In Person, Brooklyn, NY · In partnership with We The Diaspora
During this storytelling circle, we’ll share memories of elders, reflect on the power of oral history, and explore simple ways to preserve the stories that shape our families and communities.
June 10 · Speculative Story Circle - The Lands That Keep Us, Part 3
7:30–9PM ET · 🌐 Virtual · In partnership with Imagination Doulas
Close out The Lands That Keep Us with a speculative story circle, harvesting from the futures we wish to see. We will connect with our ancestors, descendants, and future selves to learn how to survive this moment. We will close by honoring the ancestors and pouring libations.
I hope to see you in the weeks and months ahead. When we keep our history alive, it will not be erased.
Peace,
Martina
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