Juneteenth Storytelling Celebration with April Armstrong

On June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free. Juneteenth, as it's now known, is celebrated annually to honor the end of legal enslavement in the United States and a tradition of gathering, remembering, and telling the truth and stories about how we arrived in this moment.

Flushing Town Hall marks the holiday with an evening of storytelling and song led by April Armstrong, actress, singer, and National Storytelling Network award winner whose work has long centered the histories and voices of the African diaspora. Armstrong draws on folk traditions, spirituals, and the oral storytelling forms that have carried Black history across generations. She will be joined by a trio of musicians: Mario E. Sprouse (piano/keyboard), Ayodele Maakheru (guitar and banjo), and Napoleon Revels-Bey (drums).

All are welcome. We hope to see you there.

About the Artists

April Armstrong is an award-winning storyteller, singer, and actress whose work breathes life into history through a blend of music and narrative. A 2024 AUDELCO Award winner for Best Actress in a Musical, Armstrong has spent recent years touring her acclaimed one-woman show, Two Wings to Heaven: The Bessie Coleman Story, a work that honors America’s first Black female aviator. Known for her high-energy performances, Armstrong has graced legendary stages from the Apollo Theater to the National Black Theatre Festival. She is a recipient of the National Storytellers Network’s 2020 J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist award and her debut CD, The Cat Came Back, earned a Parents' Choice Silver Award.