The Black Awareness Committee kicked off its annual three-day Harambee Festival Tuesday in the Hughes-Trigg Commons.

Harambee is a celebration of unity, based on a traditional African festival. It’s an international event. Cities all over the United States have been presenting Harambee events since the beginning of October.

“It allows us … to enrich people culturally, which is always a wonderful opportunity,” said Alicia Hills, vice chairwoman of BAC.

The BAC gave away custom designed T-shirts, artistically air-brushed by a contractor from New Jersey.

At least 80 people showed up to support the event and get shirts, Hills said.

Wednesday, BAC will continue Harambee with the BAC Happy Hour, featuring the SMU group Black Men Emerging in the Hughes-Trigg commons.

Wednesday evening, also in the Hughes-Trigg commons, the Ola Sanya African Percussion and Dance Group will perform traditional African drumming.

Pure Soul: Slam Poetry will allow local artists and SMU students to perform in an open mic forum.

“There are a lot of cafes that are culturally rich … I met the local artist, Prana, at Reciprocity and we became friends. He and I arranged to get poets out of the community to come Thursday night,” Hills said.n