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THE BLACK BLOCK CULTURAL DISTRICT
in Downtown Pawtucket is the home of
The Black Block Community Foundation
Retelling the Story, History in the Making of The Black Block Cultural District
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The Black Block Community Foundation in the District
Welcome to The Black Block Cultural District. As you navigate our site, you will find yourself feeling inspired by the culture of the people in our vibrant district.
We hope that you embark with us on our storytelling journey, enjoy our photographic gallery, learn about The Black Block Community Foundation (BBCF), connect through The Black Block Community Foundation's Association (or BBCF's Association for short), volunteer in our projects and initiatives, be led by your generosity, and get in contact with us.
Reach out to us at The Black Block Community Foundation and we will be happy to meet you at one of our branch sites located within our district's many venues, spaces, and places.
401-753-4348
Registered Office
33 Summer St Fl 2, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA
For a complete listing of schedules and events, please contact us.
The Board Meets @Still on Main Mall
250 Main St, Pawtucket, RI
Corporate Headquarters,
Information Center & Shop
243 Main St, Ste 1, Pawtucket, RI
Branch Site @The Anchor
25 Maple St, Pawtucket, RI
Branch Site @The Green on Main
230 Main St, Pawtucket, RI
Branch Site @Black Lives Matter RI
225 Main St, Pawtucket, RI
Experiencing the Black Block Cultural District will purposedly offer you a refreshed vibrant perspective of our community and a clear reflection of Leslie Moore's forward leadership. Through the Halo Project in partnership with Core Collaboratives LLC, Moore's dedication has been prioritized around advocating for upward mobility and economic development on behalf of the many Black and African Diaspora countries and the people represented in our district. An up-and-coming sector and home to The Black Block Community Foundation and Black Lives Matter of Rhode Island Nonprofit Organization, the Black Block Cultural District takes you back to historic times to bring you right back with the realistic accomplishments that our community has been enjoying for many years now.
As a Black and multicultural group, the enlightenment and wisdom passed down from generations to this day will be carried on through the legacy that the Black Block Community Foundation and many partners established and have set to anchor within the district. The Black Block Cultural District's venues, spaces, and places are united by culture as if they each are playing a stellar role in the "Retelling the Story; History in the Making" moment of our district. Even the silence that speaks the verses, the statements, and the sentiments of many who are devoting their artistic talent to inspiring creative minds in our community can be heard just by standing still in admiration.
The Black Block Cultural District in Downtown Pawtucket is a BIPOC-led district serving all people, intentionally including communities of Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and disproportionately impacted populations. Being a grassroots district, community members and stakeholders alike are passionately committed to collaborating and making pivotal movements and radical changes.
The fundamental purpose of our district’s advocacy and role in the retelling of the story of our community centers around honoring the many lived experiences of slavery and oppressive backgrounds commonly shared by most of the people represented in our district and highlighting the accomplishments of our community.
While we know that the retelling of our story is essential to our history, the present, and the tomorrow of all people, we also know that the teller of the story is of utmost significance. Both the story and its teller are precisely distinguishing foundational factors embedded in the guiding practices and processes we follow in establishing The Black Block Cultural District in Downtown Pawtucket.
The Black Block Cultural District brings together the stories of people, gives a voice to the stories of Black people, and amplifies the voices of many tellers who have pledged their lives to represent the story of Black people and have dedicated themselves to the advocacy of these stories and the ambassadorial sharing of this protected knowledge with all people in the world.
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Explore The Black Block Cultural District
From walking tours to delightfully exquisite cuisines, the vibrant sounds of music, stellar performances, and exotic yet affordable vintage arts and artifacts, you will be sure to enjoy your visit to the Black Block Cultural District. Travel back in time inside the only thrift store in Downtown Pawtucket where you are gifted with free range to express your in-vogue, in-style, or a la-mode shopping mood. Enter our Houses of Worship and Upper Rooms that offer common spaces to connect with others within a faith-based district that readily sets the perfect atmosphere to experience many moments of self-reflection about spiritual-led goals.
Allure yourself as you get pampered in one of many highly acclaimed beauty salons and barber shops. Let the fragrances of your specialty coffee inspire your inner you in a tropical cafe. The youth will find attractively enduring the gaming rooms and age-appropriate snacks and drinks that are available to them. Children will spark their curiosity in a tree-house-themed play area. All groups will find it appealing to celebrate a special event at one of our many venues with historic charm. Our district also offers safe and accessible mental health care and well-being spaces to recharge provided by qualified professionals who take a multicultural perspective in their approach.
Visitors and locals will soon arrive for a Music and Murals Tour depicting the history of our district, highlighting the forgotten-no-more accomplishments of many illusters and scholars of all Black peoples.
Culture and Community
A Bridge of Unity in Downtown Pawtucket
Anchored by this unique universality that brings people together around culture, and so does the story of The Black Block Cultural District, bringing us all together to be united as one.
The "Culture" within our district
Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey
Culture.
It’s more than a word. It is the fabric that weaves societies! The word itself means “to cultivate;” it happens through education, systematic improvement and refinement of the mind. It’s what shapes individuals, families and communities which in turn shapes ethnic groups and countries.
Culture is what we eat, how we speak, what we think, how we dress, how we walk and how we act.
Culture is the cultivation of children with national and ethnic traditions that equate to social norms - the molding of society.
This idea of culture is beautifully intertwined with the concept of nationality - the concept of a people having a common origin, tradition, and language and capable of forming or actually constituting a nation-state. This diversity of culture is what wonderfully varies the world. But even more beautiful, is when cultures overlap. If we do a little research we can see how something as simple as rice and beans as a national / cultural or ethnic dish are staples of both African and South American countries.
A dive into language, how words are formed and their history, paint a beautiful picture on the influence and marriage of one language with the next. Even the English language has German, Dutch, and Latin roots. This is due to the natural human desire for adventure and travel.
Culture is the glue to society, it fosters a sense of belonging, a sharing of common interest, goals and desires. What makes us common is what forms communities - if etymology teaches us anything, the word common is its root. Where things are uncommon, lay the gap that forms “other” communities. But where there are gaps, there are thousands of years of evidence that humans will form a bridge.
This author is inclined to believe that human beings were intelligently diversified so that we may learn from one another. With this diversity of humanity comes the opportunity to learn - through love, time and patience. With this tool called love, we can learn that what makes us unique is valuable and we have more in common than we have that pulls us apart.
What is a society without a mother, father and child. A parents love for their child is quintessential for every nation of people. What more value can one nation place on its children over another? Who can look in the eyes of a child and not see innocence? Thus, a culture of love is intertwined with our human existence.
A diversity of culture is the basis for the concept of international sovereignty, self-determination, self-autonomy and self-governance. It’s the order of the international community! With Italian, Korean, Nigerian and other communities what makes them unique is what makes them beautiful. They’re self-reliance, self-identification, self-autonomy, cultural dress and mannerisms.
The citizens of all free national governments, across the world, according to their national constitution are all of one family bearing one free national name and culture. The first issue in the laws of every country is the sense of nationality, an asking of “which culture do you belong to.” With respect to the national independence of every free national government and its citizens, the issue of culture often times brings in a special caring for that individual based on the unique values of their country of origin. It even may affect that individuals tax status in another country. It’s a respect that one country has for another, a statement that since it’s laws may vary from anther, they come to terms under a mutual national agreement, called treaties, on how their governments and citizens are going to react with one another. This is one of the highest examples of cultural tolerance and respect. Where both nations agree that it can’t force itself upon the other.
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When we value ourselves and live with nationalists / culturalism, it fosters a sentiment of “self before others.” This is a common theme, not rooted in hatred or bigotry that has caused every nation of people to thrive.
Copyrights © 2024 Abdullah Bey. All rights reserved.
unique Universality.
“A call for unity that respects the tears, the sweat, and the blood of our ancestors, and honors the sacrifices which have been, and continue to be over imposed upon our current generation. A unity that follows after a Civil Rights Movement, one which was rooted in peace and freedom. A unity that transcends the use of adrenaline-rushed isolated violent reactions, and still drafts fearless loud volume voices that stand together to establish change by taking action.
A unity that forms when black peoples from all lands embrace primal experiences of being black as universal realities. A unity that grows more resilient when we connect at a higher level of awareness and recognize the positive impact of masses becoming one. A unity that emphasizes collective power over individual actions, publicly condemns racism, and purposely educates to hold all accountable.
A unity that demands us to adopt a shared Black Ethnic Consciousness from within, and one that ignites organized collaborative socio-political movements in pursuit of permanent equity. A unity that fights for irrevocable access and right to be, to live, and to breathe, in hopes that by then we hold hands with the world, for the good of all black peoples, and for the good of all.
United by core beliefs systems that ancore us all one with another, acknowledge existential similarities among lived experiences, and value most highly the unique universality of being black.”
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