Asked to create a short piece for a newsreel, Bill Greaves turned The First World Festival of Negro Arts into a historic documentary that celebrates pan-African culture, a subject that impassioned him. In 1966 in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, more than 2,000 writers, artists, performers and dignitaries from Africa and the African Diaspora – 30 countries, including the U.S.– came together in an exciting series of rencontres. The film features Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Alvin Ailey, Aimé Césaire, Leopold Senghor and many others. With educators and students delving more deeply into Black history and culture, this treasure is in ever-greater demand. Commissioned by USIA, the negative is held at NARA.