The vastness of multiple libraries burned to the ground on Lá an Dreoilín (Wren Day) and the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26, 2025, when Lenwood (Leni) O. Sloan took his final breaths.
Leni wore many hats: dancer, choreographer, historian, arts and culture facilitator, and as he liked to self-describe, "catalytic agent."
Born in 1948, Leni took ill suddenly and catastrophically over Christmas while visiting New York from his native Pennsylvania.
Raised in Pittsburgh, he maintained deep affinities and connections to New Orleans, Jamaica, and Ireland, among other places - ties that reflected the breadth of his intellectual curiosity and cultural commitments.
Around the time of his transition - though it was unknown to me then - I remarked on the presence of a red admiral butterfly circling our kitchen in the December sun.
It struck me as unusual for the season. Now, I believe it was a sign that a great tree was falling, many miles away in New York City.
My introduction to Leni came nearly two decades ago through his dynamic late collaborator, and my longtime ethnomusicologist colleague at New York University,
Mick Moloney. My own relationship with Leni deepened about a decade ago when I began developing a documentation strategy focused on Americans of African and Irish ancestry.
This work culminated in the ongoing Black, Brown and Green Voices initiative and later the African American Irish Diaspora Network, on whose board Leni honored us with his larger-than-life presence from 2020 to 2024.
Most recently, I had the privilege of collaborating with him on a play about the prolific Shakespearean African American actor Ira Aldridge, alongside Professor Christine Kinealy and actor Eon Grey.
Our work on Aldridge will continue in Leni’s enormous absence. The study of the intersections of African and Irish American history has experienced more attention in recent years, energized in part by the profound cultural and political discord of our times.
But the truth is that Leni had been cultivating the field for decades by bringing artistic practice and history into active dialogue.
As far back as 1982, he contributed an article on intermarriage and musical influences between African Americans and the Irish to a pioneering Californian publication, Callahan’s Quarterly.
I recall the pride that brimmed from him when I told him, just a few years ago, that with the help of an intrepid New York University librarian, I had finally tracked down a copy of that issue.
As an intellectual elder who brought both artistic depth and lived experience to this work, Leni was unfailingly encouraging and charismatic.
He took great satisfaction in seeing his work not only validated but carried forward by the next generation. We owe him a profound debt for modeling ways to unpack the complexity of racial and ethnic identity in defining belonging in American life.
Leni truly embodied the spirit of pioneers such as Carter G. Woodson, who exactly a century ago this year demonstrated the capaciousness of African American history by founding what we now observe as Black History Month.
I like to think that he would delight in the resonance of his anniversary falling on Lá an Dreoilín. In parts of Ireland, a hunt for the wren - revered as the “king of the birds” - sees groups of “Wrenboys,” often dressed in straw masks, greenery, and colorful clothing, parading through neighborhoods, singing and performing in exchange for donations.
The ritual is meant to ensure prosperity in the coming year. As a former resident and devotee of New Orleans and all it symbolizes: community celebration, social commentary, and living heritage, Leni would have loved Lá an Dreoilín and its resonances with the tradition of the Strawboys in Cajun Louisiana. These will not be the final words spoken about Lenwood O. Sloan.
For now, we think of all his loved ones who mourn him, his spouse Byron Clement, his five loving siblings, Beverly Smith, George Sloan, Cookie Palacios, Joanne Haynes, Joyce Sloan, nine nieces and nephews, many great nieces and nephews and a community that felt deeply touched by his friendship and genuine kindness towards others.
We recalibrate and dig deep to honor and continue his legacy of contributing to the cultural gumbo he so enjoyed creating. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
Please join us on March 17, for an online St. Patrick’s Day toast to Leni at 4:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. Irish time (daylight savings): https://nyu.zoom.us/j/95688810952 or email institute@aaidnet.org for details.
Dr. Miriam Nyhan Grey sits on the board of the African American Irish Diaspora Network and is the founder of Black, Brown and Green Voices.
