House of Africa & Juneteenth

Pape Ndiaye at House of Africa, Thomas Avenue, Plaza Midwood neighborhood, Charlotte, 2008. Photo by Nancy Pierce, Principal Exhibit Photographer.

Culture and heritage are the only things that can help you move forward. And we all come from the same place, Africa. We are all from the motherland.

- Pape Ndiaye

At the House of Africa art gallery, Senegal native Pape Ndiaye presides over art from many of Africa's 56 countries. African immigrants — and Americans curious about African culture — often drop by to chat.

Ndiaye also sponsors the annual Juneteenth Festival, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., as well as the connections between African and African American culture.