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Personal blog on visit to Peace and Justice Memorial 

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Personal blog on visit to Peace and Justice Memorial 

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Montgomery, Alabama is chock full of disturbing history: From the earliest days of settlers displacing indigenous peoples, to becoming a prominent slave auction site, to its distinction as the "first capitol of the Confederacy," to civil rights violence (and lots of other things I missed in between). Good things happened here, too, and the citizens love their city despite it all.

I visited with a group of educators working on a multi-year grant through the Department of Education. (Our Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is a partner in the grant.) REACH (Race, Equity, Arts and Cultural History) "proposes a five-year project to establish a national replicable model that will strengthen the fiber of arts learning and harness the learning and effectiveness of arts integration as a catalyst for increasing student engagement and achievement" and is in a large part the brainchild of my esteemed colleague, Denise Davis-Cotton, from the University of South Florida's Center for Partnerships in Arts-Integrated Teaching. Denise is from Montgomery and wanted our first year's museum studies site visit to take place there, at the many excellent Civil Rights sites.

It was a whirlwind tour. Our group visited two or three sites a day, including the Rosa Parks Museum, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the Freedom Rides museum, the Legacy Museum, and several other sites. A lot to take in and process.

To me, the most memorable of all of these highly memorable sites was the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. When I told some friends about visiting the memorial, they said, "Oh, you mean the Lynching Memorial." Well, that's a big part of the story, but not all of it. This is a memorial for healing, not just for documenting in a very emotionally affective way the legacy of over 4,000 known lynchings in our country.

Still, the terrible history of lynching as an unchecked practice in much of the U.S. between the Civil War and World War II is the largest part of this incredible installation. Row upon row of metal columns list states, counties and names of the people who lost their lives to individuals or mobs who somehow thought they were meting out justice in their hate-twisted minds.

Interpreters are on hand to unpack some of what you see, and add in even more disturbing facts from the extensive research that has been carried out for the memorial. I talked to one of them, Ricky Blackmon, about why he decided to work at the Memorial, as I was thinking it must be hard to fill in the blanks created by these lists of victims with descriptions of public lynchings, souvenirs made of human flesh, and other unbelievable but true stories. "I do it for my grandparents," he told me. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

If I had not already been on the verge of tears by then (about a quarter of the way through the memorial), I was then. And I can't help crying again while writing this.

If you find yourself in Montgomery, don't skip a visit to this incredible installation. And talk to the interpreters. But meanwhile, here are some photos I took.

At the heart of the memorial are these metal columns which start out at eye level and, as you walk through, are raised until they are towering overhead. Each has the state, county and known lynching victims listed.

Toward the end of the columns, slate tablets with examples of why people were lynched line the walls on both sides. The light on the overhead tablets changes during the day, and symbolizes, according to one of the interpreters at the site, the many varieties of skin tones of African Americans.

It would take hours to read all the tablets inscribed with information about the reasons for and circumstances under which people where lynched. Considering the name, this one stood out to me.

Ricky Blackmon explains the circumstances of the lynchings recorded on this column, which involved a whole family.

The memorial grounds also include many striking sculptures such as this one, with the background of Montgomery.

FInal words; the reason for the memorial.

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Montgomery, Alabama is chock full of disturbing history: From the earliest days of settlers displacing indigenous peoples, to becoming a prominent slave auction site, to its distinction as the "first capitol of the Confederacy," to civil rights violence (and lots of other things I missed in between).

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A Maryland Community Gathered to Remember the Lynching of George Peck

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I have been searching through resources from the Smithsonian Learning Lab and came across this articje I wanted to share.  I am thinking of creating a collection on Learnings Lab drawing from our experience in Montgomery and bringing in other resources.

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In January 1880, a 22-year-old African-American man named George Peck was dragged out of a store in Montgomery County, Maryland, blindfolded, and hanged from a locust tree in front of a Presbyterian church. Peck had been accused-though not tried or convicted-of attempting to assault a white girl. The mob that decided his fate reportedly shouted "Lynch him!" as it perpetrated the brutal attack.

Peck never received a proper burial. His body was cut down the next morning while white church-goers filed their way into the house of worship. But during a ceremony that took place this weekend, nearly 140 years after his murder, Peck was remembered at the site where he was lynched.

As Liz Anderson reports for WTOP, members of the Montgomery County community gathered in a "grassy field" across from the Poolesville Presbyterian Church, where they took turns digging up the soil and depositing it into several glass jars. Some of the jars will be sent to local organizations like the Montgomery County Historical Society and the Historic Medley District in Poolesville. One will head to the Menare Foundation, which preserves the history of the Underground Railroad, and another will be sent to the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, where it will be added to a collection of jars containing soil from lynching sites.

The EJI-Montgomery County collaboration marks the latest initiative in the Alabama organization's " Community Remembrance Project "-a three-pronged undertaking that seeks to recognize lynching victims by collecting soil from lynching sites, erecting historical markers and engaging the public with a national monument.

The EJI's National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened to the public in 2018; it features 801 six-foot-tall monuments, each marking a county where a lynching took place. According to DeNeen L. Brown of the Washington Post, victims' names, including that of George Peck, are inscribed on the steel columns. Peck is one of at least three lynching victims killed in Montgomery County and one of at least 41 victims lynched in the state of Maryland.

In an effort to expose this dark chapter of Maryland's history and usher in a process of reconciliation, state governor Larry Hogan recently signed a law creating a "truth commission" that will investigate racial terror lynchings and their ongoing legacy. As the act plainly acknowledges, lynchings were "intended to terrorize African American communities and force them into silence and subservience to the ideology of white supremacy." No person in Maryland was ever tried or convicted for lynchings that happened there, and "[n]o victim's family or community ever received a formal apology or compensation from State, county, or local government entities."

Per a statement published following the bill's signing, EJI Director Bryan Stevenson said, "By publicly reckoning with the legacy of racial terrorism across the state, a communal process of atonement can guide the necessary development of collective healing."

In September, Maryland erected a memorial to lynching victims in Annapolis-the first such monument constructed in the state. On a local level, the Montgomery City Council introduced a January 2018 bill designed to establish a Remembrance and Reconciliation Commission aimed at promoting a better understanding of the county's troubled racial history. The commission is responsible for finding ways to honor the county's three lynching victims: Peck; John Diggs, who was also murdered in 1880; and Sidney Randolph, who was killed in 1896 after being accused of brutally murdering a 7-year-old white girl. The evidence against Randolph was flimsy, and before being dragged to his death, he insisted on his innocence.

Those present at the memorial ceremony for Peck on Sunday stressed the importance of acknowledging the violence that once took place in the county.

"It's really heartening to see literally the whole community here-diverse, different ages, different races come here to stand on the ground where George Peck was murdered and ... in a way, give him his own funeral that he never had," Will Jawando, Montgomery County councilmember at-large, told WTOP's Anderson.

He added, "We can't grow, and learn and correct from the past unless we recognize it in all of its brutality."

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A Maryland Community Gathered to Remember the Lynching of George Peck

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In January 1880, a 22-year-old African-American man named George Peck was dragged out of a store in Montgomery County, Maryland, blindfolded, and hanged from a locust tree in front of a Presbyterian church. Peck had been accused-though not tried or convicted-of attempting to assault a white girl.

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This is a good history short to view.

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Despite the pain.... yet we rise

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The Folk Arts – Cultural Treasures Charter School comes out of a history of struggle for:
equity and justice for Asian American students and immigrant and refugee students of all races in the public schools; public investment and public space in the under-served Chinatown community; public schooling that engages children as active participants in working for a just society. FACTS provides students in grades K-8 with an exemplary education that utilizes traditional arts and cultures found within their own and neighboring communities as the catalyst for critical inquiry and community engagement.

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The FACTS Board of Trustees has decided that FACTS will open in the 2020-21 hybrid model on April 14, 2021 unless the Philadelphia Department of Health changes its guidance and recommends that schools close. We are working hard to prepare the building to welcome students back. Thank you for continuing to pull together during these stressful circumstances. "Giving meaning to the lives of our children in the present while preparing them to become active citizens in a democratic society" - Grace Lee Boggs
The Folk Arts - Cultural Treasures Charter School comes out of a history of struggle for:
equity and justice for Asian American students and immigrant and refugee students of all races in the public schools; public investment and public space in the under-served Chinatown community; public schooling that engages children as active participants in working for a just society. FACTS provides students in grades K-8 with an exemplary education that utilizes traditional arts and cultures found within their own and neighboring communities as the catalyst for critical inquiry and community engagement.

Folk Arts - Cultural Treasures Charter School PLEDGE

We care for one another & learn together.

There is no limit to what we can learn.

Our families & our elders know important things & we take time to learn from them.

We learn to help ourselves & our community.

We learn to be strong & act with courage.

All people, have a right to use their own languages & honor their own cultures.

Creative expression is part of our lives & part of our school.

We work to build a fair & peaceful world.

The earth is our home & we must take care of it.

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Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School - an education that engages students with culture & community

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The FACTS Board of Trustees has decided that FACTS will open in the 2020-21 hybrid model on April 14, 2021 unless the Philadelphia Department of Health changes its guidance and recommends that schools close. We are working hard to prepare the building to welcome students back.

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Deirdre (Dee) Cobb-Roberts, Professor of Social Foundations, University of South Florida

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So excited to be in Montgomery and to share this experience and strategies for change with colleagues across the country!

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https://www.nj.gov/education/amistad/

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Want some practical tools for bringing interviews into the classroom?

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Interviewing as a Tool for Folklore, Oral History, and Community-Based Research

Interviewing is a powerful tool for educators. Through interviews with people in their families and local neighborhoods, students make connections between what they are learning in school and informal learning in their homes and communities. They hear personal stories that bring family and local history to life. They engage with stories that reveal how larger historical events and social movements have affected their own communities. Interviewing builds skills, knowledge, and enduring understandings that will serve students throughout their lives.

At City Lore, the New York City-based nonprofit where I direct the Education Program, interviewing is an essential tool we use in our in-school and out-of-school programs. Students interview family members and community residents in their homes and workplaces and in the classroom. To identify potential community guests, we rely on our own contacts and on the suggestions of school staff and families. Often, we just hit the streets and visit local businesses and organizations, which is a wonderful way to learn about the school's local community.

City Lore's teaching artists emphasize the ways they conduct their research to gather ideas, materials, and resources for art making. In addition, they use interviews conducted by the students as source material for art making in our K-12 school partnerships. Examples of these projects include student interviews with community activists for a spoken-word poetry project; immigrants for songwriting and picture book projects; and Madeleine Sugimoto, whose family was sent to an internment camp during World War II, for a play on Japanese American history.

City Lore's staff uses the guidelines below to prepare our teaching artists and classroom teachers for student interviews with community guests. We adapt the guidelines to the age of our students, and invite users of this guide to do the same.

~ Amanda Dargan

Why Use Interviews and Oral History
Interviews and Oral Histories Provide:

Accounts of events, either historical or contemporary, through the eyes of people who played a role in or who witnessed those events.

Insights into the perspectives and knowledge of people who participated or observed but who are not considered authorities and therefore are often excluded from history books and media accounts.

Multiple points of view on events and shared experiences, not just established opinions or histories told from one group's point of view. What people believe influences what they do and how they interpret events even when information differs from other historical records-so this is important to record, too.

Rich primary source material, with perspectives and stories that can enliven the topic of study and show how larger social issues and events have affected local communities and individuals.

Opportunities to learn more about people we see every day, including family members.

Practice using critical thinking skills, including close observation and listening, making connections, analyzing, inferring, interpreting, synthesizing, evaluating, and retelling.

Preparing to Interview

Think about the purpose of your interview. Ask yourself, "What do I want to learn from the interview?" "Whose perspectives, knowledge, and experiences do I need to include?" "What is the purpose of the interview?" and "How will I use the material?"

Do background research on the topic and the person you plan to interview beforehand so that you can ask informed questions.

Prepare a list of topics and focused questions from your research to use as a guide. If you will be drawing on the interview to produce one or more products (such as an essay, radio program, podcast, exhibit, visual arts project, song writing, play, etc.) keep in mind the kind of information you will need as you prepare your questions.

If possible, talk to the people you plan to interview beforehand. Describe your topic, why you chose them to interview, what you plan to do with the interview, and who will have access to it. Giving them a few days to think about the topic may result in a richer interview. Assure them that you're interested in their personal experiences and memories; therefore, they do not need to conduct research on the topic in advance.

Make a technology plan. Choose the appropriate audio, video, or notetaking technology carefully, considering the ways that you would like to use the material. If you plan to record the interview, test your equipment before you go and make sure that you're comfortable with the set-up and controls. If needed, bring chargers, extra charged batteries, and memory cards. Decide if you need images (photos or video) in addition to audio.

When working with a team, discuss roles and responsibilities, such as Interviewer, Note Taker, and Equipment Operator. Always give all team members an opportunity to ask questions before the close of the interview. Karl Orozco, a visual teaching artist with City Lore, divides classrooms into five roles for their interviews with community guests: Interviewers, Scribes, Character Artists, Setting Artists, and Object Artists. His approach encourages collaboration and ensures that every student has an important role in the interview process. [See Classroom Connection: Creating Art from Interviews]

Conducting the Interview

Deep Listening
Deep listening is the most important skill for conducting an interview. Good interviewers listen closely to the narrator's responses and do the following:

1. Demonstrate active, attentive listening. Show that you're listening by making eye contact, nodding, using facial expressions to respond to what you're hearing, and asking follow-up questions.

2. Give the narrator and yourself time to pause, think, and reflect. Inexperienced interviewers often rush to the next question when there is a long pause, which can give the impression that you're interested in only short answers. Also, people often pause before describing a powerful experience, so you may miss the best stories if you don't give them time to gather their thoughts.

3. Ask follow-up questions to clarify or probe more deeply into a topic or to ask for more details or examples.

4. Take notes (even if you are recording the interview) on the setting, the people, and other things you observe that may not be captured in a film or audio recording. Record your observations and write down questions you have based upon what you are hearing. Some interviewers find it helpful to divide their notetaking page into two columns, one column for notes on what you hear in the interview and a second column for questions you may want to ask later, issues or topics the interview raises, or things you notice about the setting.

Asking Questions
An interview should feel like a conversation, even though the interviewer does most of the listening and the person being interviewed does most of the talking. The job of the interviewer is to put the narrator at ease, listen actively and respectfully to what the narrator says, and ask questions that elicit rich details, stories, and perspectives on the topic you are researching.

Two types of questions, close-ended and open-ended, are essential to a good interview, but try to make most of your questions open-ended.

Close-ended questions elicit "yes" or "no" and short answers that help you gather basic information. These questions often begin with the words:

WHAT (is the name of the town where you were born?)

WHERE (were you stationed during the war?)

WHEN (did you family come to the United States?)

YES/NO (DID your family enter the United States through Ellis Island?)

Open-ended questions give the narrator a chance to talk at length on a topic. Devote more time to open-ended questions, which often begin with words and phrases such as:

TELL ME ABOUT (your experiences working in the mine.)

WHAT WAS IT LIKE (living on the Lower East Side at that time?)

DESCRIBE (a typical day of work on the farm.)

EXPLAIN (how you shear a sheep.)

HOW (did you feel leaving your family behind?)

WHY (did you decide to leave your home?)

Other Interview Tips

1. Talk with your narrators beforehand and tell them why you want to interview them, how you plan to use the interview, and who will have access to it. When working with K-12 students, the classroom teacher or teaching artist can call the guest and describe the project, then ask the guest to consider demonstrating what they do or telling the students about themselves briefly before the questioning begins.

2. Arrange to record the interview in a quiet place with very little background noise or distractions. Do a brief sound check before you start and listen through your earphones to ensure that background sounds are not distracting from the interview. Sounds such as those from a fan or air conditioner will sound louder on the recording than you may perceive them. Don't hesitate to ask the person to turn them off during the interview, and be sure to remind them to turn them back on when the interview is complete. If you're recording the interview for radio or for podcast you may also want to record sounds from the narrator's home or workplace.

3. Avoid asking leading questions. Ask questions that encourage the narrator to answer in a way that reflects their thinking, not your thinking. For example, instead of asking, "Don't you think it was wrong to close the factory?" ask, "How did you feel about the decision to close the factory?"

4. Ask for specific examples and stories to illustrate the points your narrator makes. For example, if the narrator says, "We used to get in trouble for playing games in the alley," you could ask, "Can you tell me about a time when you got in trouble?"

5. Ask for detailed descriptions of people, places, and events or describe them yourself as part of the interview. As Radio Diaries producer Joe Richman says, "Be the listeners' eyes and ears."

6. Use your list of prepared topics and questions as a guide, but be flexible and respond to what the narrator says and explore different topics that come up during the interview. If the narrator starts to talk about subjects that seem irrelevant to your topic, politely move back to the topic with a new question but also remain open to the possibility that the divergence could become interesting and useful. We try to go over our list of questions beforehand but put them aside until the interview is almost complete, then check our list to see if we've forgotten anything.

7. Be willing to share some of your own experiences. If your subject seems reticent about sharing personal stories, one strategy is to share your own personal experiences similar to those you are trying to elicit. Respect the fact that there are some topics that your subject simply may not want to share.

8. Ask your narrators to sign a release giving you permission to use the material and outlining what you will do with it. Get contact information in case you decide to use selections from the interview for other purposes later.

9. Create a plan for storing the interviews and documentation that students create based on the interviews. Post-secondary educators and students may have access to an archive for storing copies of interviews and related materials. K-12 educators can ask their school librarian or a local library to create a file for their interview materials. It is also important to offer the people you interviewed copies of the interviews and of the final products. A colleague described a recent call from a woman who asked for a copy of an interview he had done many years ago with her grandfather. "I've never heard my grandfather's voice," she explained.

Interviewing Etiquette

1. Be polite and respectful of your narrator's time and energy by arriving prepared and on time and ending the interview at the scheduled time, unless the narrator wants to continue. You can request a second interview if you need more time. Interviews over an hour long can be a strain on the subjects.

2. Think of your interview as having a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Before the interview, talk informally to help both you and the narrator relax, establish rapport, and feel comfortable sharing personal information. Explain your topic and how you plan to use the information (even if you have done this previously).

Begin with questions that are not too personal or challenging. This gives the narrator time to get to know you, understand what you want to learn, and decide if they trust you enough to share personal information.

Move to more open-ended questions and questions that probe more deeply into your topic and your interviewee's personal experiences.

When you have finished, ask, "Is there anything you would like to add?"

Thank your narrator before leaving and ask if you can call for additional information after you have had time to look at your notes. Follow up with a thank-you note and offer to share a copy of the recording or photographs.

After the Interview

1. Copy and label your recording file. Make a copy of all digital files from the interview and save in a safe place like a classroom cloud storage site or a hard drive. Label your recording file soon after the interview and make sure the file data includes the names of interviewer and narrators, date, place, and other information relevant to your topic. Use the same file name for other forms of documentation from the same interview, such as photographs, notes, sketches, and artifacts.

2. Listen to the recording and make a list of the key topics. Transcribe the interview, or outline the interview and transcribe interesting quotes and information that you may want to use in your final project. Make sure this document includes the file name so that it can be traced back to the right digital file.

3. Analyze your notes. Look for evidence of the narrator's point of view, thematic connections between different parts of the narrative, interesting quotes, and connections between the narrator's personal story and larger historical narratives.

4. Contrast and compare the perspective and experiences of this narrator to others you have interviewed on the same topic and to written records. This will help you see how unique or broadly representative this narrator's experiences and perspectives are.

5. Treat the evidence with care. Apply the same standards for citation and use of oral history materials as you would with other types of historical evidence. You have a responsibility to present your narrators' points of view and the context in which they were expressed accurately.

6. Be careful that one story does not become the only story. One person's perspective should not be generalized to an entire group or community. One moment described in an interview should not be understood as that person's only story or full story.

7. Reflect on what you, the interviewer, bring to the interview and how that might shape the questions you ask, the topics you explore, and your interpretation of the interview. In their book Fieldworking: Reading and Writing Research (2011) authors Bonnie S. Sunstein and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater suggest three questions to ask yourself when you're conducting fieldwork, including interviewing: What surprised me? (This tells you what you didn't know or thought you knew), What disturbed me? (This tells you what challenged your deeply held beliefs), and What intrigued me? (This tells you how your personal interests influence the questions you ask and the topics you explore more deeply).

Find Classroom Connections with activities and lessons here. All Photos by Amanda Dargan.
Sunstein, Bonnie S. and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater. 2011. Fieldworking: Reading and Writing Research. 4 th Ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Radio Diaries: https://radiopublic.com/RadioDiaries

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City Lore Interviewing Guide - Journal of Folklore and Education

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Interviewing as a Tool for Folklore, Oral History, and Community-Based Research Interviewing is a powerful tool for educators. Through interviews with people in their families and local neighborhoods, students make connections between what they are learning in school and informal learning in their homes and communities.

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This is the landing page that allows access articles that connect directly to our conversations. Our most often accessed article is Dismantling Racism in Museum Education (vol 3), which may be particularly relevant--but feel free to reach out to me for other recommendations. (Like co-teaching with community artists to engage community expertise in the classroom in vol 7!)

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As the flagship journal for Folklore and Education, JFE annually publishes outstanding content from authors who know the value of teaching local knowledge, art, stories, and culture.

What happens in diverse learning spaces when students, educators, and artists bring a cultural lens to complex subjects? Read on!

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JFE Volumes - Journal of Folklore and Education

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As the flagship journal for Folklore and Education, JFE annually publishes outstanding content from authors who know the value of teaching local knowledge, art, stories, and culture. What happens in diverse learning spaces when students, educators, and artists bring a cultural lens to complex subjects? Read on!

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Being a scholar in the understanding of the American fabric is essential in all disciplines!

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Material Culture as a pathway to learning

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Material Culture as a pathway to learning

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A story with Alabama roots that resonates around the world: "Bond understood that in designing these quilts she was doing something symbolic. The daughter of an AME bishop with a master’s degree in English Literature she was aware of the spiritual and cultural resonance of symbol and material. And she certainly understood the diasporic struggle of black people for freedom."

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The fabric tells a story. In the careful stitches, the colors, the pieces, a narrative takes shape. The blue water, the bright sun overhead, the American flag. In the center, a black fist holds a red lightning bolt. Harnessing power, and powerful itself.

This fabric is a quilt, designed by Ruth Clement Bond, one of six so-called TVA Quilts, sewn by women whose husbands worked at Wheeler Dam for the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s. During Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, the federal government established the Tennessee Valley Authority, designed to harness the region's rivers to create cheap electric power for much of the South. With its success, the South was altered dramatically, and the TVA has been enshrined in the history of North Alabama. And yet, many of the contributions made by black Americans who worked for TVA have been erased. Facing discrimination, segregated facilities, and lower pay, black workers for TVA nevertheless helped power the electric revolution by innovating and laboring.

While Dr. J Max Bond, a personnel officer, was supervising workers at Wheeler Dam, his wife Ruth Bond was designing, illustrating, and organizing. Mrs. Bond and the other women in her TVA wives' beautification group, like Rosa Marie Thomas, were not simply making quilts; they were using tradition to document cultural changes occurring in the South, and black Americans' influence on them. It was "an attempt to revive the arts and crafts that were known to the Negro race during slavery," Mr. Bond told TVA President Arthur Morgan in 1935, according to TVA history, continuing, they are "attempting to use their handicraft to express the part that the Negro is playing in changing the South."

"Our first quilt we called 'Black Power'," Ruth Bond recalled, in an oral history with the Associated for the American Foreign Services Worldwide and reported by Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb of the Washington Post. ( LA Times) "The first quilt showed a bolt of lightning signifying power, held in the hand of a black worker." While the political movement known as Black Power would not be fully articulated until decades later by Stokely Carmichael and others, the long struggle for black representation and freedom had been long underway. In Alabama in the 1930s, church and civic organizations, including the Communist Party, were organizing black workers to assert their collective power (Robin D.G. Kelley, Hammer and Hoe). Even as the specter of racial violence terrorized and Jim Crow laws protected exploitation and white supremacy (Scottsboro Boys), black Americans resisted erasure and dehumanization. In her stitches and creativity, Ruth Bond and the other makers of TVA quilts preserved for posterity the work of black people in building the South.

Bond understood that in designing these quilts she was doing something symbolic. The daughter of an AME bishop with a master's degree in English Literature she was aware of the spiritual and cultural resonance of symbol and material. And she certainly understood the diasporic struggle of black people for freedom. Ruth Bond and her husband would eventually leave Alabama. She would go on to teach in New Orleans and Tuskegee, Haiti and Atlanta and Malawi, and numerous other locales as her husband served in the American Foreign Service around the world. Always educating, looking for beauty, designing, and making.

Remembering her time in Alabama, Bond described being captivated by the rural Alabama traditions she encountered, in particular the way that women of color designed and used fabrics. The TVA Quilts would use those indigenous traditions to document the changing South and call for even more change. "Things were getting better," she said, "and the black worker had a part in it." The TVA Quilts tells a history in fabric. And it is a story, of course, that is ongoing. (E.L Helton, Resources for Teachers: The Tennessee Valley Authority)

Here at Alabama Chanin we have always believed in the power of making. And through Natalie's non-profit, Project Threadways, the story of textiles-and the stories and accounts of those involved in their creation-are recognized, celebrated, and used to document the way the act of making them shaped the lives of communities and the individuals of those communities.

In partnership with the Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area and the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture, Project Threadways collects oral histories, analyzes and publishes data, and stages events that serve as centers for conversation, exploring the connection between community and the evolving region through the lens of material culture.

Our planned Project Threadways Symposium for 2022 is tilted "Textiles and Activism." Subscribe to the newsletter to learn more about our upcoming works and events. We are currently seeking to reunite the TVA quilts of Mrs. Ruth Bond for display in the Shoals community during this Symposium. If you or someone you know could assist in this effort, please reach out to us: think@projectthreadways.org.

Thank you to Dr. Ansley Quiros for writing this post.

Ansley is a new contributing writer to the Alabama Chanin Journal. You'll be seeing more of her work here in the future. Get to know her here. Read more from her here. And follow her here.

Quilt images from top

Source: Museum of Arts and Design

Tennessee Valley Authority Appliqué Quilt Design of a Black Fist, Ruth Clement Bond (designer) and Rosa Marie Thomas (maker); 1934, Museum of Arts and Design; Gift of Mrs. Rosa Philips Thomas, 1994.

Tennessee Valley Authority Appliqué Quilt Design of Man with Crane, Ruth Clement Bond (designer) and Rosa Marie Thomas (maker); 1934, Museum of Arts and Design; Gift of Mrs. Rosa Philips Thomas, 1994.

Tennessee Valley Authority Appliqué Quilt Design of Man with Musical Instrument, Ruth Clement Bond (designer) and Rosa Marie Thomas (maker); 1934, Museum of Arts and Design; Gift of Mrs. Rosa Philips Thomas, 1994.

Image of Ruth Clement Bond courtesy of Sarah Bond

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#THOSEWHOINSPIRE: RUTH CLEMENT BOND + THE TVA QUILTS - Alabama Chanin | Journal

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Ruth Clement Bond designed the TVA Quilts, sewn by women whose husbands worked at Wheeler Dam for the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s. The TVA Quilts would use indigenous traditions of black Americans to document the changing South and call for even more change

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Thanks to everyone for your thoughtfulness and fur sharing this experience.  On the way to the airport I learned of our bus driver's extraordinary walk from Orlando, Florida to Harrisburg, PA as a younger man, to raise awareness about Black male incarceration.  Truly an amazing finish to a day of intensive learning.

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Change is possible when individuals  collectively take a stand against injustice~

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Of the 3,000 people, it makes you question  how did nobody see anything wrong with it~

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A cry for freedom

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Superhero lessons given to minority students by Black father-son duo

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A child can lead the way.... let's support  the development of superheroes ~

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A child can lead the way.... let's support  the development of superheroes ~

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Superhero lessons given to minority students by Black father-son duo

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The pair wants students see themselves as superheroes.

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Vision. Strategy. Activism. Student Agency. Cultural Identity. Structural Change.
(PS--sharing a student journal activity linked above my org developed for museum visits. The activity is useful for thinking about inventorying one's assumptions and the multiple narratives/perspectives at play in the museum space and representation.)

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Museum Observation Field Journal - Local Learning

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Consider a museum an important text that deserves careful reading. Before visiting a museum, inventory your assumptions about what you expect, even if you are familiar with the institution. Think about where it is, how it sits on the landscape, its relationship to the natural and built environments.

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literal reflections to match our inner reflections 

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literal reflections to match our inner reflections 

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People fought and died for the right to vote.  The importance of voting can never be understated~

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Exposure to racism from childhood can impact overall quality of life

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What narrative will be amplified? Who is speaking? What will be said? How do you ensure the truth is exposed and the correct narrative is told over time?

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History provides valuable lessons of how to advance racial justice. Nevertheless, the fight for civil right continues....

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Feeling inspired and blessed at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church

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This is my first time in Montgomery - it’s like the Holy Land of the African American Civil Rights experience…I feel soooo blessed to be here.

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How do you use your space to catalyze change?

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How do you use your space to catalyze change?

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It's mesmerizing to learn how so many great ideas were conceived,  and grew based on  the  support of the community and church members.

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Share the experience together... let love catalyze change

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Tell your story- Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matambazinga

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Tell your story- Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matambazinga

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Until the lion gets to write his story, the hunter will always be the hero

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“Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.” Dr. Martin Luther King

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So grateful for our guide Wanda Battle.

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This little light of mine - I’m gonna let it shine … Let us shine brightly together.

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This is a good journal article that provides context into our study this week:
https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1157&context=mjrl

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I was reflecting on  the potential ways I can use the knowledge gain within the curriculum, and empower others in their professional growth.

I am confident the experience will be enlightening,  motivational, and inspiring.

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I’m so excited to be in Montgomery in part because of my familiarity with Rosa Parks’ life and my lack of familiarity with many other aspects of the city. Can’t wait!

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Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman
University of South Florida
Interim VP of Institutional Equity
Sr. Advisor, President & Provost for DEI
Assoc Prof. of Sociology

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Yes. This is my first visit. I'm excited about learning firsthand about its history and culture.

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Yes. This is my first visit. I'm excited about learning firsthand about its history and culture.

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University of South Florida

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I have lived my whole life in the South.  My family moved to Atlanta from TN in the summer of 1965, just before I entered 6th grade.  As a middle and high school student, I experienced the de-segregation of the city's public schools as well as the dynamics of changing race relations in the city as a whole.  I later worked in the city as a social service provider, researcher, and drug policy advisor in the mayor's office under both Andy Young and Maynard Jackson.  I have read extensively, talked with many others, researched and taught about racial inequality for years, but I have never been to Montgomery and visited these historical places and museums.  I am here with an open mind and heart and look forward to gaining another perspective and deeper understanding of the people and events that helped shape our history with the hope that I, along with all of you, can help shape a better future.

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I have lived my whole life in the South.  My family moved to Atlanta from TN in the summer of 1965, just before I entered 6th grade.  As a middle and high school student, I experienced the de-segregation of the city's public schools as well as the dynamics of changing race relations in the city as a whole.  I later worked in the city as a social service provider, researcher, and drug policy advisor in the mayor's office under both Andy Young and Maynard Jackson.  I have read extensively, talked with many others, researched and taught about racial inequality for years, but I have never been to Montgomery and visited these historical places and museums.  I am here with an open mind and heart and look forward to gaining another perspective and deeper understanding of the people and events that helped shape our history with the hope that I, along with all of you, can help shape a better future.

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Dr. Tones Stewart enlightens us on your opening night!

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Dr. Tones Stewart enlightens us on your opening night!

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Greetings all! I am Kara May, Founding Principal and Director of Partnerships and Creative Development at Art In Motion Creative Arts School in Chicago, Illinois. I am excited about spending this time of learning, listening and development in Montgomery with you all. See you soon!

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I plan on being a giant sponge! Coming from Colorado, I learned very little about the history of the south in school. I look forward to having my eyes and heart opened!

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Kandace Browder from Experience Montgomery- Montgomery Chamber of Commerce 

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Kandace Browder from Experience Montgomery- Montgomery Chamber of Commerce 

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Welcome to Montgomery! I will be your point of contact from the Chamber during your visit. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

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I liked the way the Mothers of Gynecology Park/memorial emphasized the knowledge of women healers and midwives in contrast to the cruel experiments of male doctors who thought they were the authorities on treating women...

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Sharon Jackson and I toured the Rosa Parks museum and Mothers of Gynecology Park.  The rest of you will do so on Thursday!

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I am thrilled to be visiting this city for the first time, framed through the important lens of culturally responsive and inclusive education. Last week I was directing a workshop for educators on Teaching with Primary Sources in Tulsa, OK, focused particularly on the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Civil Rights History Project of the Library of Congress. I am embracing the significance of these two combined weeks of learning and travel.

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I am looking forward to spending an incredible week with all of you in Montgomery! As Executive Director of Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education, I'm so pleased to be supporting the efforts of the REACH program.

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Anticipating a very intense learning experience which I am looking forward to sharing with all you and eventually with many other educators and students.  I'm thinking towards writing a blog for our Center web site and also already thinking of ideas for next year's visit to the Smithsonian and Washington, DC.

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Hi, everyone!  I'm Sandra Stone, and I am a professor in the Criminology dept. at the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus.  I am honored to be a part of this project and to share the upcoming week's experiences with all of you.  I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and to the rich discussions I know we will engage in!  Safe travels, everyone -- see you tomorrow!

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Hi, everyone!  I'm Sandra Stone, and I am a professor in the Criminology dept. at the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus.  I am honored to be a part of this project and to share the upcoming week's experiences with all of you.  I'm looking forward to meeting everyone and to the rich discussions I know we will engage in!  Safe travels, everyone -- see you tomorrow!

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Looking forward to seeing the museums that hold important historical accounts that are not broadly accessible in school curriculum 

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Looking forward to seeing the museums that hold important historical accounts that are not broadly accessible in school curriculum 

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Dallas Jackson, art consultant REACH. Career educator 28.5 years. Looking forward to learning with you in Montgomery.

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Hello! I’m Karen Bell, teaching artist for the Circus Arts Conservatory. I am so looking forward to meeting and or seeing everyone again! This will be an amazing learning experience for me.

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Hello Colleagues!
I am Dr. Denise Davis- Cotton. I am the Director of the USF Florida Center for Partnerships for Arts Integrated Teaching and the Vision of REACH! Welcome to Alabama!

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Zoom in and read the plaque about the historical home where Dr. Martin Luther King lived. 

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The Legacy Museum and REACH Learning and Development Facilitator, Frances Bradley-Vilier

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Hi there! I'm Marly Parker. I am an Arts Schools Network Board Member living in CT. I teach at an elementary arts magnet school in Waterbury. I'm thrilled to be heading to Montgomery. I look forward to meeting you all. See you soon!

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Hi, Everyone, I'm Betty.  I'm an Educational Specialist and Curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Studies.  I met some of you back in February at the grant kick off, and looking forward to meeting new folks.  I've never been to Montgomery before and I'm very excited for the visit!

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This will be my first time visiting Montgomery. I am eager to meet all of you and to share this journey together. I am anticipating a life changing experience filled with new learning and perspective.

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Lisa Merritt MD Professor of Practice, New College, Board Member Ringling Museum and National Black Trustees Alliance.

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Hello everyone! I’m Kimberley and I’m a retired 30 year educator and had the privilege of serving as one of New Jersey’s  Commissioners of Education. I am currently  an independent consultant.

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Dr. Ruthmae Sears-University of South Florida 

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Hello Everyone, I am Ruthmae Sears. I am  an Associate Professor for Mathematics Education,  and the Associate Director for the Coalition of Science Literacy  at the University of South Florida.

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One to One with Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall

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As a Montgomery, Alabama native and lead Legendary Tours guide, Wanda Battle is no stranger to the historical relevance that her magical city has to offer. Being born during the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott and raised during the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement, Wanda has grown up with a sense of community that is unmatched. Ingrained in her is the desire to bring together a collaborative community that works to make life a better place for the next generation through the art of storytelling.

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Browder moved to Alabama’s capital city after art school and started a nonprofit to help children discover their voices and identities through history and art, while creating art diversion programs for juvenile detention centers across the south. She founded two youth non-profit programs to help young people in Alabama: "I Am More Than" and "More Up Cafe". She’s supported that work by giving tours around Montgomery, lacing jokes and group sing-a-longs with candid talk about the modern-day effects of everything from slavery to segregation. She created a striking sculpture of “the Mothers of Gynecology” – three enslaved women named Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey, who endured dozens of surgical experiments. Welded from steel and adorned with women’s names, surgical instruments and jagged metal shapes. The figure of Anarcha, who endured 30 surgeries, has a hole in place of a uterus. Her face gazes to the sky, eyes closed.

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The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Experience

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The Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama

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Riding for Freedom, WDHN tours Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery

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The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Equal Justice Initiative), Montgomery, Alabama

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She is no stranger to working within education, primarily with the youth. Michelle Speaks has spent the vast amount of her life dedicated to motivating, uplifting, and inspiring young people. She currently works for the Department of Youth Services, a juvenile correctional facility, as an educator. She has spent more than 20 years of her life tenure in the field of professional education. Whether working with a summer camp dedicated to the positive development of self-esteem in young people through the performing arts, or being a member of a restructuring team that revitalizes failing schools, she has been embedded in the trenches doing the work to change the negative outcomes that so many poor and disenfranchised children face daily.

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Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum is an active memorial to the life of civil rights icon Rosa Parks and the lessons of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that brought racial integration to transportation and international attention to civil rights. Located in downtown Montgomery, Alabama at the site where Mrs. Parks was arrested, it is the nation’s only museum dedicated to Rosa Parks. Their mission is to honor her legacy and that of the boycott by providing a platform for scholarly dialogue, civic engagement, and positive social change.