Freedom Monument Project Plans Public Art Exhibit

In Savannah, Ga., a stone family marks the disembarkation site of kidnapped Africans; in Barbados, a man confronts the sky with broken chains dangling; in Columbia, S.C., four granite blocks represent four African nations once commonly raided to feed the slave trade.

But North Carolina boasts no public art depiction of the black experience.

On Saturday in Durham, about 20 people convened in the sanctuary of St. Joseph's Historic Foundation to begin the process of creating such a work.

This community meeting completed one of the initial steps planned by the North Carolina Freedom Monument Project, a new grassroots organization formed to fill the void in Raleigh's public art collection.

"We hope an introspective discussion will lead to the values and themes needed to create a public art form to depict African-American experiences," said Beverly Washington Jones, co-chairwoman of the planning committee for Chatham, Durham, and Orange counties.

An assortment of educators, students, artists and other citizens dispersed throughout rows of benches and sat through introductions and a 20-minute film exploring the goals and aspirations of the Freedom Monument Project.

Facilitators then invited the audience to share their personal experiences at the microphones. People simply nodded their heads until the words of 26-year-old Annissa Pearson arrested movement as she described overtly racist treatment she had experienced in northern Arkansas in 1998.

Pearson underlined the ongoing race struggle and the importance of rising above it. "This division which still exists needs to be overshadowed by something positive."

Throughout the meeting, facilitators emphasized the positive mission of the Freedom Monument Project, which concentrates strongly on benefits to future generations.

"We are searching for ways to speak to people who will be born in 100 years," said Reginald Hildebrand, UNC professor of African and Afro-American studies, who sits on the planning committee.

Jones added later, "Children are the foci."

Much of the dialogue focused on the need for connection to the past to understand the present and face the future.

Kirtina Jones, a junior at N.C. Central University, said she would have felt a lot more confident as a child if she had seen public art conveying the black experience.

The Freedom Monument Project plans to review this and six other regional dialogues at a statewide meeting in February to gauge whether the project has enough support to fill the void. And judging by the response Saturday, support is growing.

Jones said, "I'd love to see, before I'm dead and buried, something depicting the African-American experience in Raleigh."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.