The Black and White Ball is a celebration of family and place of the African community in Columbia, Missouri. Every three years graduates of Douglass High School and other public high schools in the area come back to Columbia to enjoy a weekend of festivities, including a parade and a picnic. It is a time for family reunions, food, games, and dances, a time for taking stock in each other's achievements and each other's roots, a time for Black excellence to shine, a time for joy.