The Ocean City Arts Center presents Karen “Queen Nur” Abdul-Malik in an early celebration and commemoration of Juneteenth, the day in 1865, that the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached the slaves in Galveston, Texas, two and one-half years after its pronouncement. Experience the storytelling magic of that moment on Sunday, June 16 at 3 p.m. in the Chris Maloney Lecture Hall of the Ocean City Public Library, 1735 Simpson Avenue, Ocean City. It is free and open to the public.
The program begins with a story honoring ancestors and Queen Nur’s telling that story at Elmina Castle in Ghana. The journey continues in celebration of resilience and resistance through the “knowing” of the right to freedom that was expressed in the hushes and hollers as coded messages through songs, chants, field hollers. The performance renders a powerful story of Henry Box Brown and leads to the story of the writing of the emancipation and the 2.5 year delay in its reaching Galveston, Texas on June 19th of 1865. Storytelling is intertwined with African Drumming, including a log drum (the first drum made in Africa), slit gongs, and cajons.
Queen Nur is a nationally renown storyteller, teaching artist and folklorist. Sharing her gift, she has performed in venues from the opening of the Smithsonian National African American Museum History and Culture to Equity Theater on Broadway, from the National Black Storytelling Festival to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro. Traveling abroad, Queen has presented for the U.S. Embassy in Cameroon and at PANAFEST in Ghana. She received her Masters in Arts in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College, and a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Harvard Law School.
Karen “Queen Nur” Abdul-Malik from Willingboro, is one of the five South Jersey recipients of New Jersey State Council of the Arts’ inaugural NewJersey Heritage Fellowships. The recipients represent Folk and Traditional Arts that are artistic traditions of specific ethnic, religious, regional groups, and more. Their artistry is often shaped and shared within families and communities throughout generations to continue and preserve their respective histories and heritages. The New Jersey Heritage Fellowships recognize artistic excellence and the contributions towards traditional arts and heritage that highlight the diversity of the state, especially in South Jersey.
Visit the Ocean City Arts Center website at oceancityartscenter.org for more information and to reserve your seat, or call (609) 399-7628. Visit Queen Nur’s site at queennur.com.
This program is made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
