Freaknik united thousands of Black college students, but it posed risks for Black women (The 19th)
Photo courtesy of Jean Shifrin/Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Forty years after the first Freaknik, the Atlanta spring break event is still generating buzz thanks to a planned Hulu documentary.
By Nadra Nittle, The 19th, April 27, 2023
Stuck at school during spring break in the early 1980s, dozens of Black college students picnicked in an Atlanta park. Fans of songs like Chic’s “Le Freak” and Rick James’ “Super Freak,” they made sure to bring a boombox. Those hits inspired the name of what became a massive celebration: Freaknic, or “freak” and “picnic.”
Freaknik — the spelling later changed — grew beyond a picnic into a citywide bash with concerts, Greek step shows, caravans of cars and partying in the streets. It attracted over 200,000 students and other attendees by the mid-1990s before fizzling at the turn of the millennium.
As Freaknik’s popularity exploded, it drew criticism along racial lines. While White Atlantans complained that it led to gridlock and debauchery, Black residents argued that the students participating behaved no differently from White spring breakers in the South’s beach cities. But by Freaknik’s final years, a racially diverse group of Atlantans agreed that it was time to end the fest amid rising reports of crime, especially sexual violence.
Now, more than two decades later, Variety’s exclusive April 6 announcement that Hulu has a documentary in the works called “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” has sparked a dialogue about the event’s legacy. Freaknik stands out for uniting unprecedented numbers of Black students in revelry, giving them a sense of pride, community and solidarity, but it was not always a safe space for Black women.