The Houston Slab Parade and Family Festival grew out of an 2012 internship by Indiana University PhD candidate Langston Wilkins, working with the staff of the Houston Folklife Collection in collaboration with the Houston Museum of African American Culture. Wilkins dissertation topic explored sense of place in the Houston hip hop community. His work focused especially on the development of SLAB culture in the region and, with this in mind, he proposed hosting a SLAB parade. Partnering with the Folklife Collection folklorist Pat Jasper and program manager Angel Quesada, a robust festival program was outlined, curated and produced.
 

Taking place in Houston's MacGregor Park in October 2013, the festival highlighted a range of art forms that play a powerful part in the city's hip hop scene. Spoken word, rap music (especially about SLAB phenomena), street art, fashion, dance and the like were featured at the festival, which served as the destination point for a 1.5 mile parade from Griggs Avenue in Southwest Houston to the center of the park.

The Houston SLAB Parade and Family Festival is a public project produced as a part of the Houston Folklife Collection. The work contained in the Houston Folklife Collection was produced by Folklorist Pat Jasper and Project Manager Angel Quesada, with assistance from a range of colleagues and the generous participation of Houstonians and citizens of surrounding communities. The creation of this website was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Program and University of Houston Special Collections.