Honoring Our Roots, Passing It On: Caribbean Heritage Month Reflections
June is Caribbean Heritage Month, and for me, it’s an opportunity to keep celebrating Haitian culture while recognizing the deep connectedness between all Caribbean islands and the people who make up our shared history. This month invites us to lift up the richness of Caribbean heritage, not just in terms of food and music, but in how we teach, remember, and pass it on, especially to the next generation.
As someone deeply committed to preserving cultural memory through education and storytelling, I want to highlight two powerful creators who are doing just that:
Fiona Compton – @knowyourcaribbean
Fiona is an artist and historian who curates the Instagram platform Know Your Caribbean. What I love about her work is how it challenges the narrow, often stereotypical images of Caribbean life. Too often when you ask people what they know about the Caribbean, you hear Jamaica, Bob Marley, maybe Trinidad carnival, then it stops. Fiona's page beautifully disrupts that.
She features deep historical insights, cultural symbolism (like the meanings behind Carnival costumes and masquerade characters), and highlights smaller islands that rarely get mainstream attention, places like Dominica, Antigua, and St. Lucia. Through her posts, you gain a deeper respect not just for the Caribbean’s beauty, but for its resilience, complexity, and revolutionary history. Yes, Haiti had the first successful revolution, but Jamaica, Grenada, Barbados, and others had their own rebellions, their own heroes. Fiona reminds us of that shared legacy of resistance.
Orlando Aurélien – @orlando07
Orlando is a digital archivist of Haitian history. His Instagram account is a treasure trove of vintage photographs, rare footage, and historical documents. Some of his posts feel like scrolling through a digital Schomburg, offering glimpses of everyday life in Haiti during the late 19th and early 20th centuries: people dancing, gathering, living. It’s a window into a history we rarely see, and it’s all curated with care and reverence.
If you’re an educator, a parent, or simply curious, following these two creators is a way to expand your understanding of the Caribbean beyond the familiar. Their work is a contribution to cultural education that we should support.
Brooklyn-Based Events: Celebrate in Community
If you're in NYC, especially Brooklyn, there are several events happening throughout June to honor Caribbean Heritage Month:
Prospect Park:
Caribbean American Heritage Month Celebration: A free event with music, food, and community at the Prospect Park Boathouse on June 5.
One Love Little Caribbean Day: A day-long celebration with Caribbean culture, community, and commerce at the Prospect Park Boathouse on June 23.
The Legacy of the Chicaba a.k.a. Moko Jumbie!: A traditional character's workshop at Lefferts Historic House on June 23.
Caribites: A Caribbean culinary paradise at the Boathouse on June 30.
Brooklyn Public Library:
Carnival Festival: A festival at the Central Library Plaza on June 30.
Celebrate Caribbean-American Heritage Month: A celebration at the Brower Park Library on June 3 with a live steel pan performance.
Caribbean Heritage Flag Day: A family-friendly event at the Canarsie Library on June 13.
NYC Parks:
Farmhouse Family Day: Caribbean Heritage Month: An all-ages event at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum in Fidler-Wyckoff House Park on June 21.
What I love about these events is how they center families. It’s not just about remembering where we come from, it’s about teaching our children, helping them know who they are and where their people come from.
Language as Legacy
As part of this work, I’m excited to be prototyping a Haitian Kreyòl language deck—a simple, engaging tool to help children and families learn and pass on the language. My own connection to Kreyòl came from hearing it spoken around me, at my mother’s knee, among my elders in the kitchen, or hearing my dad shouting about politics back home. I absorbed those words so that Kreyol became mine. And I want the younger ones in my family, and in our communities, to feel that same sense of belonging.
Even if they don’t become fluent speakers, they should know that they come from a people who speak their own language, shaped by history, survival, and brilliance. This is at heart of cultural legacy.
Honor the Ancestors, Inspire the Future
Caribbean Heritage Month is a time to remember the freedom fighters who carried our people forward, Queen Nanny of Jamaica, Sanité Bélair of Ayiti, Bussa of Barbados, and the cultural icons who gave us language, rhythm, and vision: Marcus Garvey, Shirley Chisholm, Celia Cruz, and many many others.
In our remembering and honoring we also build forward. We want to ensure that our young people inherit something real, knowledge, pride, and language.
So this month, I invite you to:
Follow cultural creators who are keeping our stories alive.
Attend a local events or celebrations and bring your family.
Take a moment to reflect on the legacies that shaped you, and how you’re passing them on.
Happy Caribbean Heritage Month, zamni!. Let’s celebrate with intention. 🌺
