Cincinnati Black Family Reunion is last in the nation

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Thousands were expected at Sawyer Point the weekend of August 19, for the Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion.
While individual families, of course, have reunions all the time this is the last of the large, organized events of its kind which had spread across the nation. The words in combination say it all: Black Family Reunion. The event brings African-Americans together with families and as a family for fun but also to honor tradition, spirituality, culture and history. The event was founded by civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height.
Reunion director Tracey Artis said, “It was important to Dr. Height 28 years ago when she first came here to Cincinnati to organize it, because she heard a journalist say it appeared to him the black family was going away. And she said no, there may be a grandmother raising her granddaughter but it's still a family unit. She started the event for African-American families. We welcome all families, but she started it to make sure that the black family was being celebrated.”
Dr. Height was influenced by legendary African American educator Mary McLeod Bethune.
Clarence Newsome of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center said, “Dr. Bethune, Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of Bethune Cookman University, had a vision of black family lives being very coherent, very cohesive, very strong for successive generations to survive and thrive in American society.”
Black Family Reunion events ultimately spread to 25 cities but now, Cincinnati is the only event left. Backers said other cities were plagued by crime, lack of sponsors and no continuity of organizers. Reverend Otis Moss, another civil rights pioneer from the 50’s and 60s, said at the reunion's opening breakfast how important it was for family reunions to exist in communities and in people's hearts.
Reverend Moss said, “We must continue to be in tune with our ancestors, that we might learn from the past. We must affirm our existence and responsibilities in the present and we must try to lay a foundation for the future.”

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As a non-Black Cincinnatian, I visited two or three Black Family Reunions on the riverfront. It was an enriching, educational, and enjoyable experience.