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Africatown Heritage House is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10am – 5pm.

Phone: 251-206-5268 | 2465 Winbush St. Mobile, AL 36610

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NEWS & EVENTS

OWAMBE FESTIVAL LIVE ANCESTRAL ENCOUNTER

All Things Africatown is pleased to announce the second annual OWAMBE Festival, a two-day celebration. The festival will commence on Friday, Feburary 6th with an Author’s Forum at the Mobile Museum of Art, featuring Dr. Deborah Plant, editor of Barracoon, and Dr. Hannah Durkin, author of Survivors of the Clotilda, moderated by Dr. Kern Jackson. To ensure an accurate headcount, attendees are kindly requested to RSVP through the museum’s website. On Saturday, February 7th, a solemn Ancestor Encounter will take place at the Clotilda: The Exhibition at the Africatown Heritage House, where guests will meet with descendants of the Clotilda survivors. Additional festivities will be held at Mobile County Training School, including a libation ceremony led by Mrs. Deborah Ferguson, interactive drumming with M.A.A.D featuring Wayne Curtis, piano performances by Nate Keeby, and a Mardi Gras dance hosted by the Prichard Carnival Association. Vendor booths and a food cart will also be available.

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OPEN MIC POETRY SLAM & ART SHOWING

Africatown Heritage House is excited to announce an Open Mic Poetry Slam and Art Showing, hosted by Mobile’s Poet Laureate, Huggy Bear Da Poet, on February 28 from 4:00-5:30pm! Admission to this event is FREE!

ABOUT HUGGY BEAR DA POET

Huggy Bear Da Poet was born and raised in the city of Mobile, Alabama. Though his talents have allotted him the opportunities to travel the world. Huggy has graced the stages of venues in states from L. A.; Apache Cafe in Atlanta; to the Nuyorican Cafe in New York City to 3 of Busboys and Poets in the DC/VA area. He has opened up and for such greats as Nikki Giovanna and Jesse Jackson, Jill Scott, Fantasia, Rickey Smiley and a plethora of other phenomenal entertainers. Through his socially aware poetry, he has captivated and evoked social change in each and every venue he has performed. Although Nationally known and considered one of the top spoken word artists in the country, he’s also credited with pioneering the modern spoken word movement along the Gulf Coast.

Huggy writes from the heart and performs from the soul. He uses spoken word to motivate, empower, and agitate people toward social change. His in your face style of performance provides a catalyst to make one look deep within ones self and face those things that might be one of your own personal fears. Huggy is self published poet. In his book titled Love, Laughter, Heartache and Pain, he takes the reader on a journey through his own personal walk in life. In this book he shares very intimate details of his battles with the pain of deception, social political awareness and the struggle of the black family. As the reader takes the ride with this Lyrical Beast, it becomes obvious that he writes from real experiences which were brought fourth from the pain, happiness, and learned lessons of life. Huggy Bear is very active in his community and generously volunteers his time to do performances and workshops at churches, schools and mentoring programs all around the country. He has been appointed to be Poet Laureate of Mobile, Alabama from January 2026 to January 2028.

His CDs “Where I Was” and “New Growth” followed the book Love, Laughter, Heartache and Pain continue to entice his listeners with the raw truth. In his travels, Huggy has become painfully aware of the struggles his people still endure. He spits poems of social resistance, as he captures the pain and triumph of being black in todays society. Through spoken word, Alex “Huggy Bear” Lofton II, hopes the social change will not be revolutionary, but evolutionary in the sense that it will be ultimate tool in our struggle to make Black America better.

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2026 HERITAGE LECTURE SERIES

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Media Visits to Africatown Heritage House

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