African Culture Weekend: Downtown Warren

The Mahoning-Trumbull County Coalition and the Marcus Garvey Institute of Awareness are sponsoring the first African Cultural Weekend today through Sunday in downtown Warren, hoping to make it an annual event.
TODAY
Trumbull County historian Wendell Lauth will lecture on the Underground Railroad's ties to Trumbull County, 2 p.m. in the Warren-Trumbull County Main Library, 444 Mahoning Avenue N.W. "Nurturing Pathways to Freedom" will examine through family correspondence, papers and vintage photographs local connections to the Underground Railroad. Tours of an underground railroad exhibit and the Sutliff Museum will follow the lecture.
SATURDAY
There will be a tennis clinic from 8 a.m. until noon at the Packard Park Tennis Courts. The clinic, taught by camp instructors from the United States Tennis Association, is for Warren high and middle school pupils and summer tennis students from the Marcus Garvey Institute.
SUNDAY
There will be three events at the Warren Community Amphitheatre beginning at 2 p.m.
"Let's Do It Again," a rally to honor the memories of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, will begin at 2 p.m.
The rally's goal is to rekindle the spirit of blacks and whites working together for the good of the community, said event organizer Abdu Awolowo. Abolitionists Douglass and Truth came to Warren in the 1800s and united the city against slavery, Awolowo said.
After the rally, there will be a "Kings and Queens" pageant. Young people will represent great black inventors.
After the pageant, there will be a Back to School/Voter Education Bang to encourage individuals to cast ballots this year.
Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and William Douglas Franklin, Warren service-safety director, will receive awards at this event. Williams will be honored with the Langston Hughes Courage Award and Franklin will receive the Frederick Douglass Award. Sunday's event will include free food for all participants.