BOSTON BLACK PRIDE FESTIVAL CELEBRATES AMERICA’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

The annual Boston Black Pride festival is returning this month with a packed schedule of events culminating in a music and arts festival with live performances, DJ sets, local artists and all-day dancing.

Eilakeisha Spencer, deputy executive director of the Boston LesBiGay Urban Foundation and executive producer of Boston Black Pride, says the celebration is slightly scaled back this year due to the FIFA World Cup and other competing events. One notable difference is that there won’t be a Boston Black Pride parade as there has been in past years.

But the goal of bringing the Black queer community together remains.

“Our theme this year is 250 years of queer Black joy, playing on the Everyone250 movement that is happening here in Boston,” said Spencer. “We want to make sure that our voices and our history and our future isn’t left out in United States history.”

On July 4, attend The Reunion: Class of 250 party celebrating America’s birthday with MC Boss Britt and sets by DJ Excel and Une Qua. Other events throughout the weeklong festival include a pool party, a Black wellness health summit, a haus game night and kiki ball and more.

In an effort to reach as broad a swath of the community as possible, the festival includes events specifically geared toward elders and teens. The Soul Train Soiree is open to all but particularly targets those 55 and older for a night of community, music and dancing. The Teen Night allows younger people to explore their identity and connect with others.

“We want to create safe spaces for young people,” Spencer said, “because they are our next generation, they are the ones that are going to really continue to push all the work and make sure that we’re not being left behind and not being forgotten about or erased.”

Boston Black Pride runs July 1-5 with an extra event on July 13.

The event has become an attraction for locals and out-oftowners alike in the last seven years. Spencer says attendees come from as far as California, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida as well as Connecticut and Rhode Island more locally. That folks are willing to fly across the country to attend speaks volumes about the importance of the festival.

“Oftentimes, Black and brown communities are given the bare minimum, if anything,” said Spencer. “Being able to curate our own space, where we have our own events, our DJs look like us, our hosts look like us, where we are able to be our true authentic selves, is super important.”

ON THE WEB

Learn more about the festival lineup at lesbigayurbanfoundation.org/boston-black-pride/events-1