Black Wall Street Annapolis LLC, a business and curriculum development company started in 2016 by Deonte Ward and Adetola Ajayi, hosted the first installation of their #BrunchandBusinessCards event series on February 11. The event was held at the historic African American social club Peerless Rens in Eastport.
This event was also a celebration for a group of young men who completed The Vision Workshop, created by Allison Zaucha and Deonte Ward. The workshop gave several youths from Newtowne 20 and Woodside Gardens the opportunity to learn the art and business of photography. The young men took photos around their neighborhoods and across the city. Their pictures were printed and framed using donations from local non-profit Future History Now.
Future History Now debuted photos from the workshop at the Annapolis City Hall on Monday, February 12, 2018, from 5 to 7 PM, alongside their Inauguration Art Installation piece being exhibited as #TheCollab. They were hosted by Mayor Gavin Buckley, Public Engagement and Community Relations Director, William Rowel, and City Director of Constituent Services, Janice Hayes-Williams. This event is part of the BWSA model of positive event productions, with the purpose of creating empowerment programs to uplift at-risk individuals and underdeveloped neighborhoods.
To celebrate their two-year business anniversary they will be hosting their annual African Heritage and Black History event #Diaspora2018 on February 24, 2018, at the Pip Moyer Rec in Annapolis.
February of 2016, Black Wall Street Annapolis and their affiliate community empowerment organization Black Wall Street Maryland – a subsidiary of Black Wall Street USAÂ www.blackwallstreet.org – took on the task of creating a community-driven initiative to deliver a truckload of water to underserved residents of Flint, Michigan.
Their first trip to Flint was so powerful that they went back to Flint in May of that same year to deliver another truckload of water. BWSA is preparing to release their socially conscious documentary #TheRoadToFlint about their journey to help a community in crisis. BWSA is a social enterprise that focuses on creating community empowerment and enrichment within the African American communities, by producing events and opportunities for social networking.
The group is inspired by the history of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which had an African American district that was so economically successful that it became the model of Black American mobility during segregation. Tulsa was destroyed first by an attack, which included plane bombings and Klansman who were brought to Tulsa to create a race war. After integration, Tulsa’s African American district was no more. BWSA has created a brand that is active in the community and is creating businesses to employ and enrich neighborhoods.
Richard W. Right is a father and activist from Anne Arundel County.
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