ICAP | Intergenerational Community Alliances And ProgramsAfrican American Heritage Program - ICAP | Intergenerational Community Alliances And Programs

African American
Heritage Program

The African American Heritage Program (AAHP) will provide a comprehensive instructional model of historical and cultural lessons and activities to advance the knowledge of the African American presence in Philadelphia and beyond. This component will emphasize the following: Africa-the origination of the Human Journey; the Human Diaspora (dispersal of humans); the MAAFA (African Holocaust, Holocaust of Enslavement); The Middle Passage; Seasoning; Antebellum America and Philadelphia; Wars-Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War; Reconstruction; turn of the century events; writers, scholars, artists; connecting the past with the present, and much, much more!

For those wanting to share the historical and cultural component of the AAHP with the public, the docent/tour guide component is offered. The training sessions are designed to cover a number of topics such as interpretation, a key factor in having the necessary information about a site and being able to convey that information in exciting ways to tourists and groups. Trainees will be provided strategies for effective communication to know when to listen to the verbal and nonverbal signals people send when they want more information or when they are getting bored. A special feature of the docent/tour guide program includes visiting other sites to learn from experienced guides what a good tour can look, feel, and become. Both components include outreach to houses of worship, community organizations, and schools.

The vision of this project/program will be to focus on those African Americans who lived, worked, prayed, contributed, and died in this City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection and beyond. The goal of the project/program will be to reach a broad range of audiences who will benefit from the project’s educational component to actualize what has been learned via the talents of the participants by using creative reflections, actions, revelations. This will be done by preparing culturally and historically educated entrepreneurs of the history.