Art After Dark: What’s the Story?

June 18, 2021 / 6pm-7pm

Sunset Lounge and the Historic Northwest District in West Palm Beach

Alisha R. Winn, Ph.D., Applied Cultural Anthropologist discusses the iconic jazz venue, the Sunset Lounge, and highlights the rich history of the predominantly African American community of the Northwest District. This program is presented as part of the Norton’s Celebrating Black Florida series presented throughout the month of June.

The Norton marks its 80th year anniversary in 2021! What’s the Story? invites neighboring cultural and community organizations to mark the occasion by sharing distinguished histories and what’s ahead. Audiences are invited to join the conversation and ask questions using the Live Chat features on YouTube and Facebook.

About Dr. Alisha Winn

Considered the “Cotton Club of the South,” the Sunset Lounge opened in 1926. During segregation, Black entertainers toured a string of nightclubs known in the South as the "Chitlin Circuit. " The Sunset featured great African American musicians such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald. Years later, the lounge drew musicians like James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, and several national and local artists until its closing for restoration in 2018. The Sunset Lounge was also a center for social events, organizing, community awareness, networking, activism, and neighborhood building.

The Northwest Historic District was one of South Florida’s earliest African American settlements. The Historic Northwest originally stretched as far south as Fern Street and north to 23rd Street. Today, it extends from Banyan to Palm Beach Lakes, and Tamarind Avenue and to Rosemary Avenue; in 1992, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. From the 1920s to 1960s, the legally enforced segregated Northwest became a vibrant economic, social, and cultural mecca for Blacks of all income

levels. Today, Historic Northwest residents, business owners, and community and city leaders continue to build this great neighborhood and preserve its rich history

Dr. Alisha R. Winn is an applied cultural anthropologist. She received her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in Applied Anthropology. She is the founder and owner of Consider the Culture, a firm that incorporates anthropological knowledge to governmental, community, educational, and religious institutions on the social construction of race, cultural belief systems and practices, language, ethnographic research, and community engagement. She is an adjunct professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University's School of Ministry. Dr. Winn serves as consultant and director for several community and heritage education projects: The City of West Palm Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), and project director for the Palm Beach County African American Virtual Oral History Project, and the Palm Beach County African Diaspora Historical and Cultural Society, Inc Oral History Project. Dr. Winn is a board member for the City of West Palm Beach Mayor's Taskforce for Racial and Ethnic Equality and the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.