Celebrate Pinkster at Lefferts Historic House on Sunday May 17th this year
Pinkster Celebration at Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park
Sunday, May 17, 2026
2:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Prospect Park Alliance kicks off the 2026 season at Lefferts Historic House museum with a celebration of Pinkster, a historic festival (see more on the history behind Pinkster below).
Pinkster celebrates African culture in New York, with Chief Baba Neil Clarke, the Pinkster Players and friends. This family-friendly event features music, history, performances, storytelling, demonstrations, games and yes — food! Event will happen rain or shine! In the event of extreme weather, please check prospectpark.org/lefferts for updates.
The Pinkster Players. From L to R:
Once again I’ll be both on the scene and behind the scenes for the historically rooted FOOD part along with the awesome amazing LisaRoxanne PLUS we’ll be serving up some insight and intel on the “Foods Associated with Pinkster” (See also “Foods for Pinkster” below…Don’t know what Pinkster is? Never heard of it? All the more reason to come to at least one of these celebrations if you can to experience it for yourself!… You can get a head start by reading a bit about the history behind Pinkster in this blogpost further below.
*****
FOOD for Pinkster:
Throughout the African diaspora during the New World colonial period several dishes began appearing that are still eaten today. Using inexpensive ingredients from dry storage, easy to make, delicious, nutritious and hearty dishes that could have been enriched with bits of meat or fish would have been a part of Pinkster. Ingredients were portable (i.e. light to carry) and the finished dishes were wonderful things to share.
Culinary gifts originally cultivated by Indigenous/Native American peoples and now available worldwide, ingredients native to the Americas like Maize (Corn) dried and ground would be made into a thick mush and used as a bread or porridge also known as Coo-Coo or ‘Turned Corn Meal’. Red Beans (Kidney Beans) native to the Americas appear in soups, stews, on their own or starring in dishes like the beloved “Red Beans and Rice”. Dandelion greens... brought to the New World by Europeans grew plentifully as an early spring green for edible and medicinal uses, were easily picked and readily adapted by enslaved and free Africans, including those traveling along miles of grassy roads to Pinkster gatherings. Dressed with apple cider vinegar, one of the products of hundreds of apple trees planted in New York.”
~Tonya Hopkins aka The Food Griot added on/ adapted and edited this excerpt originally written by Lavada Nahon, Culinary Historian and Interpreter of African American History for NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Pinkster History: Africans enslaved in Brooklyn celebrated Pinkster for almost 200 years. Chief Baba Neil Clarke along with other cultural leaders revived this almost forgotten tradition as a way to commemorate the culture and history of Africans in New York. Pinkster is the Dutch word for Pentecost, a spring holiday celebrating the founding of the Christian church. This was the only time each year when Africans enslaved in New York were legally allowed to gather with their families, play music and dance in public, and trade goods. In doing so, enslaved Africans preserved their cultures and built new rituals. Over the years, they transformed Pinkster into a festival of African culture, one of the oldest in what became the United States. However, in 1811 New York began outlawing this important centuries-old holiday, forcing African New Yorkers to preserve its traditions in private. Revivals of Pinkster have been growing in popularity since the 1970s and the Alliance hosted its first Pinkster at Lefferts Historic House in 1990.
Chief Baba Neil Clarke is a master drummer and performer born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant. He has toured the world performing with artists such as Randy Weston, Harry Belafonte, Dianne Reeves and Miriam Makeba. He is also a scholar who researches and teaches the history of percussion, and especially the role of the African drum in the Americas. He has been leading Pinkster celebrations for decades at Philipsburg Manor, Weeksville Heritage Center, and many other sites across the state.
About Lefferts Historic House Programs:
Following the Pinkster celebration, Prospect Park Alliance will present a series of events in June in the Lefferts Yard in celebration of Caribbean American Heritage Month and Juneteenth. Starting in July, the Alliance will present regular programming in the Lefferts Historic House museum's outdoor yard, and will reopen its interiors for exhibits and programs later in the year. Regular operating hours will begin on July 8, and take place Thursdays-Sundays from 12-5 pm through Sunday, November 19. The house will also be open on all school holidays (except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day), and have extended hours during summer months.
HERE’S AN OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS YEAR’S PINKSTER AT LEFFERTS