Cincinnati’s Black Family Reunion, a four-day celebration of Black culture and community, is right around the corner.
The 38th Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion is the country’s largest family-centered event focused on the Black family, according to the event’s website, though the event is open to everyone.
This year features a keynote speech by Rev. Otis Moss III of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, the annual parade, an African American Historic Bus Tour, family-friendly programming and vendors at Sawyer Point and more. The event also features live concerts headlined by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kenny Lattimore and “The Prince of Gospel Music,” John P. Kee.
Here’s what you need to know about Cincinnati’s Black Family Reunion before you go.
When is the Black Family Reunion?
This year’s Black Family Reunion takes place at locations across Greater Cincinnati, including Fountain Square and Sawyer Point, from Aug. 13-16. (See the full schedule at the end of this story.)
Rev. Otis Moss III is this year’s keynote speaker
Rev. Otis Moss III, the senior pastor of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, is the special guest at this year’s BFR Speaks.
Trinity United Church of Christ is a well-known church located in Chicago’s South Side. The church serves a predominantly Black congregation and reported 8,000 members in 2008. Trinity United Church of Christ was founded in 1961 amid the American Civil Rights Movement with a focus on liberation and social justice.
Moss became the church’s pastor in 2008. He preaches a “theology of liberation rooted in a Black Spirituality of love and justice,” according to his website. He was named one of the 12 most effective preachers in the English-speaking world by the Baylor University George W. Truett Theological Seminary in 2018. Moss is also a poet, activist, author and filmmaker.
BFR Speaks occurs on Thursday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m. The event will take place at Corinthian Baptist Church located at 1920 Tennessee Ave. in Bond Hill.
Who created the Black Family Reunion?
The late Dorothy I. Height, president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, often credited as the “godmother of the Civil Rights Movement,” created the Black Family Reunion. The first reunion, held on the National Mall in 1986, was sponsored by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. The second was held three years later in Cincinnati.
In a 2008 interview with The Enquirer, Height said she came up with the reunion concept after watching a Bill Moyers television documentary titled “The Vanishing Black Family.”
She said the documentary focused only on teen pregnancy, not unique to the Black community but society as a whole. Instead of protesting, she said, Height wanted to create something positive.
“We felt we needed to show the total of the Black family, to celebrate our historic strengths and valued traditions that have kept us alive,” she said.
Cincinnati is the only major city that still hosts a Black Family Reunion of the original 28 reunions that were held across the country in major markets that included Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.
When is the Black Family Reunion 2026 parade?
The Black Family Reunion parade takes place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15. The event kicks off at The Banks on Mehring Way and ends at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove.
This year’s grand marshal is Cincinnati City Council President Pro Tem Scotty Johnson.
Black Family Reunion 2026 schedule
Thursday, Aug. 13
Friday, Aug. 14
Saturday, Aug. 15
Sunday, Aug. 16
Enquirer reporter Grace Tucker contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A guide to the 2026 Black Family Reunion, featuring Otis Moss III
Reporting by Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bebe Hodges, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
