Description
Each summer since 1971, Indiana has celebrated its African American history through the Summer Celebration, a ten-day festival of food, entertainment, religion, education, and culture hosted by the Indiana Black Expo (IBE). The Summer Celebration, held at the Indianapolis Convention Center and other locations throughout the city, is the IBE’s flagship event, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the country. [1] The festival features a large exhibition hall showcasing black artists, businesses, and vendors from across the country, a film festival, concerts, boxing matches, basketball games, religious services, and a minority health fair which provides “free health screenings, education, and information on how to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and cancer.” [2] Summer Celebration also hosts a number of panels and speeches presented by activists, celebrities, and politicians, ranging from rapper Tupac Shakur in 1993 to President George W. Bush in 2005. [3] Since 1983, the Indiana Black Expo has also drawn crowds back to Indianapolis in the fall with its annual Circle City Classic, a football game held between a rotating roster of historically black colleges and universities. [4]
Though the Summer Celebration and Circle City Classic are its most well-known endeavors, the Indiana Black Expo also serves as a nonprofit charitable organization aiming to serve as “a voice and vehicle for social and economic advancement” and to improve “the quality of life for all.” [5] With 12 affiliate chapters across the state, IBE serves the educational, economic, and medical needs of thousands of Hoosiers from pre-kindergarten to adulthood. [6] IBE has awarded more than $4.6 million to Indiana students seeking post-secondary education since 1984 with funds raised from the Circle City Classic alone. [7] The organization also provides networking and career-building opportunities for Indiana residents through its annual Business Conference and Employment Fair. [8] Furthermore, IBE has expanded upon its Summer Celebration minority health fair to provide healthcare to Hoosiers year-round. Indiana Black Expo runs a statewide anti-tobacco initiative, campaigning to “educate the public on the dangers of tobacco use and the perils of second-hand smoke,” especially fighting against the marketing of tobacco products to “young people–particularly in the black and brown communities” of Indiana. [9] Prostate cancer has “about a 60 percent higher incidence rate” among African American men than white men, so IBE also provides screenings across Indiana through its Reverend Charles Williams Mobile Prostate Cancer Unit, named after the Expo’s first president who died of the disease in 2004. [10]
Indiana Black Expo was founded in 1970 by Reverend Andrew J. Brown, James C. Cummings, Jr., Willard Ransom, and other civic and religious leaders, hosting its first Summer Celebration the following year. [11] The IBE’s founders were inspired by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson’s Operation PUSH in Chicago, which sought to uplift the city’s black community by providing economic and educational opportunity. [12] The Expo was entirely run by volunteers representing “several black organizations in Indianapolis” [13] until 1983, when funding was secured for a full-time staff. [14] The Indiana Black Expo is the largest and longest-running organization of its kind in the United States. [15] It has its roots in the Black Arts Movement, which arose from black nationalism in the 1970s and emphasized black pride and the beauty of the black aesthetic. [16] The Expo has celebrated African American culture and achievement for nearly fifty years, defining the black community “for themselves and others without interference or interpretation.” [17]
Since its inception, Indiana Black Expo has experienced rapid growth; the Summer Celebration began as a three day event held at the Indiana State fairgrounds, but has now evolved into ten days of celebration spread throughout the city. [18] With this growth came a place of prominence among black organizations in Indianapolis. In 2014, Mayor Greg Ballard appointed IBE President Tanya Bell to co-chair the Your Life Matters Violence Prevention Task Force to address a surge in murders across the city which “disproportionately involved Black men.” [19] The task force is a direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement spurred by the 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and aims to bridge the “persistent opportunity gaps” faced by young black men not only in Indianapolis, but across the country. [20] Indiana Black Expo’s work to uplift the black community showcases to its youngest members “the world of possibilities available to them.” [21]
Source
[1] “Events,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/events/.
[2] “Exhibition Hall, Indiana Black Expo, last modified July 2019, https://summercelebration.net/exhibition-hall-friday/.
[3] Greg Carr, “Meeting Tupac Shakur: A Moment With a Flash of Our Spirit,” Hilltop (Howard University), Sept. 15, 2016; George W. Bush, “Remarks at the Indiana Black Expo Corporate Luncheon in Indianapolis, Indiana,” Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents 41, no. 28 (2005): 1158-1163.
[4] “Rev. Charles Williams,” Circle City Classic, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.circlecityclassic.com/revwilliams/.
[5] “About IBE,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/about-ibe/.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Scholarships,” Circle City Classic, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.circlecityclassic.com/scholarships/.
[8] “Economics,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/programs/economics/.
[9] “Health,” Indiana Black Expo, accessed August 28, 2019, https://www.indianablackexpo.com/programs/health/.
[10] Michael Dabney, “The Legacy of the Rev. Charles Williams,” NUVO (Indianapolis, IN), Jul. 11, 2007.
[11] Richard Pierce, “We’ve Been Trying to Tell You: African American Protest in Indianapolis,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 25, no. 3 (2013): 38; “Indiana Black Expo,” Ebony 43, no. 1 (1987): 76.
[12] Ibid.; “Brief History,” Rainbow Pu$h Coalition, accessed August 30, 2019, https://rainbowpush.org/brief-history.
[13] Richard Pierce, “We’ve Been Trying to Tell You: African American Protest in Indianapolis,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 25, no. 3 (2013): 39.
[14] “Rev. Charles Williams,” Circle City Classic, Accessed August 30, 2019, https://www.circlecityclassic.com/revwilliams/.
[15] Richard Pierce, “We’ve Been Trying to Tell You: African American Protest in Indianapolis,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 25, no. 3 (2013): 40.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] “Indiana Black Expo,” Ebony 43, no. 1 (1987): 78.
[19] Your Life Matters Task Force, “Your Life Matters Report to the Mayor” (report, Indianapolis, IN, 2014), 3.
[20] Indiana Black Expo, Inc., “Your Life Matters Plan of Action” (report, Indianapolis, IN, 2015), 1.
[21] Ibid.