Joining city halls, community centers, houses of worship and other institutions in 300 communities nationwide, The Wright Museum and Marriage Resource Center, in conjunction with Black Family Development and Praise 102.7 FM, present Black Marriage Day 2015. First launched in Washington, D.C., in 2002 by Nisa Muhammad, founder of the Wedded Bliss Foundation, this national initiative encourages African Americans to embrace an institution that has long been on the decline within this community by highlighting the deep-rooted historical role marriage has played among African Americans, as well as the reality that there are still black men and women who, day in and day out, meet, fall in love, get married, and stay together.
Black Marriage Day 2015 will be held for married, engaged and seriously dating couples at The Wright Museum on Saturday, March 21, beginning at 11 am. Tickets are $50 per couple in advance, $55 the day of the event. Tickets are available online at http://thewright.org/upcoming-events/details/1323-black-marriage-day-2015. For more information, contact Angela King at aking@thewright.org.
BLACK MARRIAGE DAY 2015: Saturday, March 21
11 AM: Opening, General Motors Theater
• Welcome (Randi Myles, Midday Host and Assistant Program Director, Praise 102.7 FM)
• Performance (Together As One )
• Keynote address (Rev. Garth A. Wisdom Sr., president/CEO, The Wisdom Financial Group; and Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, senior vice president, Community Health & Equity, and Chief Wellness & Diversity Officer, Henry Ford Health System) )
1 PM: Intermission
• Enjoy all the museum exhibits, compliments of the museum, and shop the museum store for great finds and deals
• Dine on refreshments in the Latimer Café
• Photo/Essay Contest. Have you and your significant other’s photo taken to submit, along with a written essay about your relationship, to a team of experts who will judge a winning couple in each category:
• Most Enduring -- For a couple married at least 15 years and still passionate about one another
• Overcomers -- For a couple that has, or is, facing great hardship yet still staying together
• Most Bountiful -- For a couple that, together, has four (4) or more children (not to include blended marriages)
• Most Romantic Proposal -- For an officially engaged couple (marriage date must be set; ceremony location should be booked)
• Sexiest Couple – For that committed, eye-catching couple that, despite kids and careers and all else, still manages to keep the spark in their marriage
• Couple of the Year – Taking into account such factors as how this couple met, how long they have been married, what they have overcome to be together; their enduring passion and the well-being/success of their children
3 PM: Power Sessions, Classrooms
• “Marriage: Living with the Unimaginable” (Arthur Nowlin, certified administrative addiction counselor and CEO, A.E. Nowlin & Associates; and Kim Logan-Nowlin, PhD, president/CEO, Kim Logan Communications Inc.)
• “Contractual vs. Covenant Marriage” (Rev. John Denson, PhD, president, Shalom Ministry)
4 PM: Panel Discussion: The State of the Black Family, Classrooms
• “What’s Love (and Marriage) Got to Do with It?” (Chaired by: Councilman James Tate, District 1, City of Detroit; and Nutrena Watts Tate, PhD, clinical assistant professor, nursing, Wayne State University)
5 PM: Finale, Multipurpose Room, Hosted by the Marriage Resource Center
• Vow renewal ceremony
• Awards -- Announce winners of photo/essay contest
• Dinner (dessert courtesy of CakeLuv)
• Closing dance – All married couples will start on the dance floor together and, periodically peeling off in groups of those married from the least amount of time to those married the longest, will leave the floor until the longest-married couples are last on the floor
Music provided by DetroitDJ.net.
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East Warren Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48201
The Wright Museum™
www.TheWright.org
