Remnants of the Watts Festival

The Watts Summer Festival is one of the oldest African American cultural festivals in the United States The Watts community founded the event in 1966 one year after the Watts uprising Ulysses Jenkinss film captures moments from the festival including footage from a performance by the band War This California funk bandfamous for songs such as Low Rider The Cisco Kid and Why Cant We Be Friendswas also well known for its multiethnic membership The 1972 Watts Festival was one of the first events that Jenkins filmed and he captured the underlying issues of community and commemoration that defined the annual event At the time the local news media would in Jenkinss opinion misrepresent the festival by issuing warnings about it and the artists own footage served to counteract the medias negative view