Baltimore's Lewis Museum Celebrates 50 Years Of Kwanzaa

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore museum is celebrating 50 years of Kwanzaa.

The event Friday at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum commemorates the creation by Maryland native Maulana Karenga of the weeklong celebration of African-American and African families, community and culture.

Karenga was born in Parsonsburg, on the Eastern Shore. He now heads the Department of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

According to the official Kwanzaa website , the holiday is based on the annual "first fruit" celebrations of both ancient and modern African civilizations. Kwanzaa began Monday and continues through Sunday.

The event in Baltimore includes an African marketplace, genealogy sessions, drumming, dancing and storytelling. It also features a screening of a 2008 documentary film, "The Black Candle," about the creation and growth of Kwanzaa.

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