Author: Katrina Spencer

Categories
Community Community Development Education History Shelley Murphy

Strategies for Effective African American Genealogy Research

a woman stands beside a monument
Dr. Shelley Murphy examines the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. Photo credit: Emily Faith Morgan

by Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy, Descendant Project Researcher, University of Virginia; featured photo by Emily Faith Morgan

An avid genealogist for over 30 years, Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy, also known as “familytreegirl,” was born and raised in Michigan, and is now living in Central Virginia. She conducts genealogy workshops at local, state, and national conferences. As the Descendant Project Researcher for the University of Virginia, her goal is to locate as many descendants as she can of the enslaved laborers who built the University of Virginia. This involves intense genealogical research on the owners of the enslaved people in Central Virginia and the enslaved laborers from the slavery era between 1800 until freedom. 

Tracing the genealogy of African American ancestors can present unique challenges due to the legacy of slavery and limited access to historical records. However, with the right strategies and resources, it is possible to overcome these obstacles and uncover the rich heritage of African American families. Let’s explore effective strategies that can aid you in combating these challenges and successfully conducting African American genealogy research. African Americans are drawn to genealogy research as a means to reclaim their identity, heal historical trauma, preserve family legacies, connect with extended family, and contribute to a more accurate historical understanding. The rewards of this research extend beyond personal fulfillment, impacting both individual lives and the broader collective memory of African American heritage. 

1. Collaborate with others. One of the most valuable strategies in African American genealogy research is to collaborate with fellow researchers. Joining genealogy groups, online forums, local historical societies, and social media communities can provide a supportive network where knowledge and resources are shared. Engaging in conversations and exchanging ideas can lead to breakthroughs and new research avenues. For example, in the local area, there are three active genealogy groups: the Burke Brown Steppe African American Genealogy Group (BBS); the Central Virginia History Researchers (CVHR)), and the Central Virginia Genealogical Association (CVGA)) Each county, too, in Central Virginia, has a historical society, such as the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society (ACHS).

2. Use Cluster Research. Cluster research involves viewing not only the direct ancestors but also the extended family members, neighbors, and community members. By analyzing the patterns and connections within the clusters, researchers can uncover valuable information that may lead to the identification of ancestral relationships and provide essential context for understanding their lives. Always consider who else was in the neighborhood of a direct ancestor.

a hand rests on a monument
A close up shot of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, some identified by name and others by profession; photo credit: Emily Faith Morgan

3. Explore DNA testing and genetic genealogy. DNA testing has revolutionized genealogy research, particularly for individuals with African ancestry. DNA tests can reveal connections to distant relatives and provide insights into ancestral origins. Participating in DNA projects and online communities dedicated to genetic genealogy can help researchers connect with others who share common genetic links. I suggest individuals begin with an autosomal DNA test from either Ancestry and/or 23andMe. Autosomal tests consider both your maternal and paternal side of your family. If you are looking to search just your father’s male line or just your mother’s female line, you would look to the Family Tree DNA company for Y-DNA and mtDNA.

4. Look beyond traditional records. While traditional records such as census records, vital records (such as birth, death, marriages/divorces, and adoption), and land deeds are important, African American genealogy often requires going beyond these documents. Investigate oral histories passed down through generations, family heirlooms, and personal collections for hidden stories and valuable information. Additionally, exploring local and regional histories can provide a broader context for understanding the lives of ancestors. In addition, if you research the slavery era period, you will also have to research the slave holders.

5. Utilize social history. Understanding the social history surrounding ancestors’ lives is crucial for African American genealogy research. Delve into cultural traditions, employment patterns, migration routes, and social networks that existed during the time period in question. This knowledge can offer valuable clues for locating records and shedding light on the lives of ancestors.

6. Be patient and persistent. Genealogy research requires patience and persistence, and this is especially true for African American genealogy. Accept that progress may come in small discoveries and breakthroughs rather than dramatic revelations. Maintaining a determined mindset and not giving up in the face of challenges is key to success.

a hand rests in a pool
A stream of water runs over the timeline feature of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. Photo credit: Emily Faith Morgan

7. Explore the local area where your ancestors lived. This is a vital aspect of African American genealogy research. Remember to value the resources available at public and university libraries and historical societies. These institutions house a treasure trove of invaluable materials that can greatly assist your research. Within their collections, you may find local history books, newspapers, city directories, and maps that provide insights into the social and cultural context of the community your ancestors were a part of. Historical societies often possess archives with rare documents, photographs, and personal papers that offer glimpses into the lives of African Americans in the area. Additionally, engaging with genealogy groups like BBS and/or CVHR, whether online or in-person, can provide guidance, expertise, and access to specialized resources specifically tailored to African American genealogy research. By taking advantage of these local resources, you can uncover hidden gems and connect with individuals who share your enthusiasm for local history, enhancing your research journey and unearthing invaluable information about your ancestors.

8. Seek professional assistance. If the research becomes particularly challenging, consider seeking assistance from professional genealogists who specialize in African American research. They possess expertise, access to unique resources, and knowledge of specific research methodologies that can help overcome hurdles and advance the research journey. Attending workshops, conferences, and webinars can also enhance skills and provide valuable insights. A collection of webinars I would recommend is “BlackProgen” on Youtube. There are over 100 webinars covering all topics around African American genealogy. The Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI) is the only genealogy institute that focuses on African ancestry in the United States. They offer a three-day genealogy institute in July each year.

9. Track timelines. Timelines offer several benefits that can greatly enhance the research process. By logging information in chronological order, timelines provide a visual representation of your ancestors’ lives and the events that shaped them. This organization helps to identify gaps in your knowledge and pinpoint areas that require further investigation. By including what you know and what you are missing on the timeline, you can identify missing records or information, prompting you to delve deeper into specific time periods or locations. This methodical approach can guide your research and highlight potential research avenues. Additionally, timelines can help identify patterns, migrations, and connections between family members or community events that may not be immediately apparent. By visualizing the timeline, you may uncover previously unnoticed relationships or historical contexts that provide valuable insights into your African American ancestors’ lives. Embracing the use of timelines as part of your genealogy research toolkit can bring clarity, structure, and a proactive approach to overcoming common challenges.

10. Share information with others. Last, it is essential to recognize the immense value of people sharing their findings and stories about their African American ancestors. Genealogy research is not just about discovering names and dates; it is about connecting with the rich tapestry of human experiences and preserving the stories of those who came before us. By sharing your findings and engaging in conversations with others who are researching African American genealogy, you contribute to a collective knowledge base that benefits the entire community. Sharing findings can lead to collaboration, where different perspectives and insights come together to unravel complex family histories and break through research’s brick walls. Additionally, sharing stories and personal narratives of your ancestors helps to give them a voice and keep their memory alive. By sharing their triumphs, struggles, and contributions, you contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of African American history and heritage. Ultimately, the act of sharing fosters a sense of connection and solidarity among individuals with similar research interests, and it ensures that the legacy of African American ancestors continues to inspire and educate future generations.

To get involved with local efforts surrounding African American genealogical research, contact the Descendants of Enslaved Communities (DEC) at https://www.descendantsuva.org/.

 

 

 

 

Categories
Community Community Development Education History Hometown Heroes Niya Bates

reReflector 03: Preserving the History of Black Education

people gather outside around a grounds marker
Alumni gather around the historic highway marker for Pine Grove School in April 2023. Photo credit: Niya Bates

by Niya Bates; featured photo credit by author

Thirteen miles northeast of Charlottesville, an unassuming, one-story, white school building with two front doors on either side of a gabled vestibule sits across a paved parking lot from the historic St. John Baptist Church. Though the church has existed there since 1880, the present church building was built in 1919, and added onto over the years. The elementary school was built by members of the community in 1923 to replace an older, one-room schoolhouse that had previously served the community in the years immediately after emancipation (1865). These two buildings are the heart of Cobham’s Black community, where generations of the Byrd, Chapman, Dickerson, Kinney, Mahanes, Payne, and a dozen other families came to be spiritually and intellectually fed. A recent article, “The Reverend Speaks of Roots & Robes,” by Vinegar Hill Magazine’s editor, Katrina Spencer, speaks to the influential and important role that Black churches have played in African American history and culture. However, the focus of this installation of the (re)Reflector column is our historic Black primary schools and efforts to save the ones that still stand today.

a schoolhouse
St. John Rosenwald School in Cobham, Virginia. Photo credit: Niya Bates

During the Reconstruction Era (1865- 1877), in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War (1861- 1865), the Freedmen’s Bureau, the government agency that was responsible for assisting and protecting newly freed Black Americans and active from 1865 until its unceremonious abandonment by Congress in 1872, established Virginia’s first statewide, free public education system. The Freedmen’s schools only served Black students. Because education for enslaved people had been illegal in some places and highly discouraged elsewhere, children, their parents, and sometimes even grandparents crammed into what were often one-roomed, simple, wooden buildings to learn to read and write. In 1870, Virginia expanded free public education to include all residents. But, the ascendance of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist politics drastically slowed the expansion of schooling for Black communities, especially in rural areas.

students in a one-room classroom
Students and their teacher, possibly Ethel Nicholas or Bernice Ferguson, at the Cismont Training School, not dated. Source: Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society

By the 1910s, there were wide gaps in schooling between white and Black students throughout the country. White enrollment in public schools had skyrocketed after federal Reconstruction started in 1865. Yet, school enrollment in the South continued to lag behind the rest of the country, and Black schools rarely received adequate public funding for school buildings, teachers, or books. Booker T. Washington, who was a graduate of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) and founder of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University), partnered with Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist and co-owner of Sears Roebuck, to establish a fund to support constructing school buildings throughout the South. From 1917- 1932, the Rosenwald Foundation supported the construction of over 5,300 schools, shop buildings, and teachers’ houses. In the later years of its operation, the Rosenwald Foundation also provided grants to Black scholars, writers, and artists including photographer Gordon Parks, opera contralto Marian Anderson, writer Ralph Ellison, and poet laureate Rita Dove. The one-of-a-kind partnership between Tuskegee University and the Rosenwald Foundation resulted in modern, state-of-the-art school building plans that were designed by Black Tuskegee architects and distributed to communities throughout the country. Community participation was written into the rural school building fund, and in order to receive funding and school plans, public school boards were required to contribute their own funding in addition to any money contributed by local Black communities and the Rosenwald Foundation. The Tuskegee-Rosenwald program supported the construction of 382 schools and support buildings in 79 counties in Virginia. Most of them were open until Virginia’s school systems were forced to integrate after the 1950s’ era of Massive Resistance, which was an attempt by Virginia lawmakers to circumvent school integration that resulted in the closure of Charlottesville City Schools in 1958. 

The school plans were designed to be replicable so that as many communities as possible could have well built schools. Tuskegee architect Robert Robinson Taylor created a distinctive and now iconic layout of banked windows to capture the most daylight while reducing glare on student desks inside the classrooms. Sliding, accordion-style partitions allowed for multiple activities or classes to exist within the same space without distraction. One, two, and three-room school plans featured doors and windows that were positioned to create cross-ventilation and air flow. Shop buildings provided workspace for normal and technical education, which was intended to prepare students for work in the skilled trades within their communities. Teachers’ housing provided accommodations for educators to move into, often in isolated, rural communities, to live near their students.

When school integration shuttered Tuskegee-Rosenwald schools and other historically Black schools throughout the country, local Black communities became the first to rally to save them. In Albemarle County, St. John School and Cismont Training Schools were converted to private homes. Yancey Elementary School and Jefferson School became community centers. Others, like the Rose Hill Elementary School in Milton, sat vacant under the watchful care of the churches next door while people dreamed of having the resources to restore and rehabilitate them for other uses. Even with their herculean efforts, many of these important historic schools fell into disrepair and neglect as children and their families moved away in search of better opportunities, marriage prospects, and exposure to new places.

In the past decade, historic preservationists – people who work in the professional field dedicated to saving historic buildings and landscapes and enthusiasts from all walks of life – have begun working earnestly to save historic Black schools. Preservation Virginia, Virginia’s statewide historic preservation education and advocacy group, listed all of Virginia’s surviving Tuskegee-Rosenwald schools among the state’s most endangered historic resources in 2013. Because the Tuskegee-Rosenwald schools were part of a well known building campaign with a distinctive architectural style, they have benefitted the most from new preservation initiatives. However, all historic Black schools are invaluable resources in the telling of Virginia’s history. While I can’t highlight all of the projects here, I want to share a few notable examples and encourage readers to get involved with this movement.

St. John School

people stand near a ground marker
St. John School alumni at the dedication ceremony for their historic highway marker in 2016. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Kinney

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Kelvin Hawkins, Pastor of St. John Baptist Church, and Rebecca Kinney, an alumna of the St. John School, about their ongoing effort to restore the school and convert it into a family life and fitness center. The church purchased the school in 2003. Since then, Pastor Hawkins and Rebecca Kinney have formed a non-profit organization to leverage grant funding from Preservation Piedmont and the Building Goodness Foundation. This year, the St. John School is celebrating its 100th year, and Pastor Hawkins is brimming with enthusiasm to commemorate the occasion. Hawkins, whose mother attended the St. John School before going to high school at Albemarle Training School, said he was initially anxious about preserving such an important and overlooked part of Cobham’s history. He says, “a conversation with Jim Hare of Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources reassured us. He told us to split the project into phases, which is exactly what made us so successful.” Ms. Kinney’s mother also attended St. John in the first years that it was open and Rebecca was part of the last class to attend once schools integrated. When asked what she hopes people take away from visiting St. John, she replied, “I hope that things like our memorial patio and the restored classrooms will tell a story of how everyone was involved. It took a village to build it back then. Everyone was involved.” Additionally, she hopes for St. John School and the history of Booker T. Washington’s partnership with Julius Rosenwald to become part of our local K-12 curriculum. Speaking on the legacy of the school, Ms. Kinney remarked, “A school that was intended to keep us separate will unite us and sustain the community.” They will celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary later this fall once restoration work has been completed.

Pine Grove School

a school amongst trees
Pine Grove School in Cumberland County, Virginia. Photo credit: Niya Bates

While communities like Cobham (home of the St. John School), Charlottesville (home of the Jefferson School), and Esmont (home of the Yancey School), have had the luxury of time to be strategic in their preservation journey, others have been forced into action because of immediate threats. Such is the case for the Pine Grove School in Cumberland County, where alumna Muriel Miller Branch, her daughter Sonja, and a dedicated team of family, friends, and allies have come together to fight back against a planned mega landfill. 

people stand indoors near an exhibit
Pine Grove School Alumni pose next to a history exhibit in the school after readying the classrooms for an event. Photo credit: Niya Bates

Pine Grove School was one of five Tuskegee-Rosenwald Schools that was constructed in Cumberland County. The two-room school served grades one through seven with students seated by age and grade level. Mrs. Branch attributes her lifelong success as an educator and writer to the headstart that she received at Pine Grove when her teacher, Mrs. Gilliam, allowed her to join her older siblings at school a year before she was eligible to enroll. Branch formed the AMMD Pine Grove Project non-profit in 2018 to purchase the school and mount an environmental justice campaign against the Green Ridge Landfill. What originally started as a project to reclaim her family’s history in deeply rural Cumberland County, has evolved into a fight for the soul of historic preservation. Her daughter, Sonja Branch-Wilson, recently completed a fellowship with Preservation Virginia and is pioneering new ways to collect Black rural history through digitizing church programs and obituaries. They have already made an indelible impact by coining the “Tuskegee-Rosenwald” moniker that I have used throughout this story. In April, just after Booker T. Washington’s birthday, the AMMD Pine Grove Project erected a historic marker and celebrated the occasion with alumni and dozens of supporters. They have even formed a Youth Council to serve as tour guides of the site. Next, they plan to undertake the slow and tedious work of creating a rural historic district. 

Each of the two schools above and their respective communities of alumni and descendants are working against the clock to preserve not only their school buildings, but the rural communities who built and depended on them. As Pastor Hawkins remarked in our conversation, the Tuskegee-Rosenwald Schools are an important part of United States history. Many living alumni of these schools are now in their 70s and 80s, and the time to collect their stories is now. Readers can get involved by recording oral histories of the elders in their communities; volunteering at the St. John School, Pine Grove School, Jefferson School, and others; and donating time and resources to the organizations that are preserving the history of Black schools. Lastly, schools like Pine Grove that are facing environmental justice battles, need community members to lobby elected officials for stronger environmental protections in vulnerable rural communities and for more robust investment in historic preservation.

 

Categories
Community Community Development Education Naila Smith

The Charlottesville Freedom School

a classroom full of young drummers
Scholars participate in drumming with the Chihamba African Dance Troupe. Photo credit: Christen Edwards

by Naila A. Smith, PhD; featured photo provided by Barbara M. Fitch

In the summer of 1964, a group of students coordinated the first Freedom School in the state of Mississippi and started a movement that continues to this day and takes place all over the country including in Charlottesville, Virginia. Freedom Schools were born out of the Civil Rights Movement. Members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who started the first Freedom School had been a part of the March on Washington in 1963 and wanted to do something youth-led and enduring that provided the community with literacy and citizenship tools to bring about social change in their communities. The purpose of the freedom school was to provide young Mississippians with culturally and socially relevant curricula (i.e., lessons about Black history, equality, and freedom) that would empower them to become leaders in their communities. 

Today, Freedom Schools across the country, funded by the Children’s Defense Fund, continue to adhere to this mission and the Charlottesville Freedom School (CFS) is no different. CFS is a 6-week summer literacy program for rising 3rd-8th graders in the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle county hosted at the St. Anne’s-Belfield School. The CFS is always free to the children who attend and this year approximately 50 students were enrolled out of a total of 170 applications received. At Freedom School, youth attendees are called “scholars” and CFS facilitators are current undergraduate students who are called “servant leader interns.” Each year Freedom Schools across the nation focus on an important social issue and each individual school develops its own theme. This year the national focus was gun violence and CFS’ theme was oral history and storytelling. 

The oral history project is the brainchild of Drs. Derrick Alridge and Johari Harris. Dr. Alridge is the Executive Director of CFS and Director for the Center for Race and Public Education in the South (CRPES) at the University of Virginia (UVA) where the Teachers in the Movement Oral History Project, an inspiration for this theme, resides. Dr. Harris is a developmental psychologist, Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University, and director of the Educating for Democracy Initiative, another CRPES program. Dr. Harris was one of the original founders of the CFS when it began four years ago at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the CFS oral history project, CFS scholars interview individuals who have been directly or indirectly affected by gun violence in the community, such as their parents, grandparents, or other community members. 

Oral history is storytelling. It is a first person account or narrative of an individual or community about a past event or past events. This form of communication is very prevalent in communities of color because it was a way to pass on stories multi-generationally in communities where enslavement, oppression, and discrimination limited written documentation of lived experiences. These stories, which have not always been valued by historians, are important sources that can provide a different perspective or an opposing account to what has been written about a person or event. Oral history, therefore, is often radical, as it counters the erasure of Black lives from the historical record.

This project is also empowering for CFS scholars because, according to Dr. Alridge, it teaches them “not to be merely receivers of or bystanders to history but to be history makers and engaged in history themselves, not to just read about the history of the Freedom struggle but to go out and collect that history themselves.”

The focus on telling Black history is not unique to the CFS; Freedom Schools across the country follow a well-developed curriculum that emphasizes five essential components that seek to ensure that children receive culturally relevant pedagogy to enhance their understanding of themselves and their social worlds. These components are: 

  1. High Quality Academic Enrichment to build on and in some cases challenge what scholars learn in schools; 
  2. Parent and Family Development to foster parent engagement by including them in programming such as the cultural enrichment speaker series and interviewees in the oral history project;
  3. Civic Engagement and Social Action to engage in action to promote social change. For example, last year scholars wrote letters to Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, urging him to support environmental measures to keep climate safe;
  4. Intergenerational Servant Leadership, provided by college students who receive four weeks of intensive training before beginning their charge. Servant leaders help facilitate scholar’s literacy skills and socioemotional learning, but also learn a lot about the community and themselves through the process; and
  5. Nutritional and Mental Health, met through the provision of meals (breakfast, snacks, lunch) and supportive relationships throughout Freedom School.

The impact of Freedom Schools are many including improvement in reading skills, especially for those who were reading below grade level, and avoidance of summer learning loss. The curriculum plays a role in fostering these results but also Freedom School days are jam-packed with many opportunities for scholars to immerse themselves in books about their community and people who look like them. 

After breakfast, scholars take part in “Harambe,” which means “comes together.” During this period, all scholars, servant leader interns, and staff meet together, sing songs, chant, and a guest reads a book to the children. According to Dr. Alridge, children of all ages love this. After Harambe, servant leaders engage scholars in the Freedom School curriculum until lunch time. After lunch they can play for a half hour, before the afternoon session when they work on their oral history project. 

Sandwiched between “playtime” and “work time” is a 15-minute period when all scholars must select a book and read quietly. The Freedom School book list is carefully curated to provide a wide range of multiethnic and multicultural options such as books about African American, Latinx, and immigrant history, stories about people of color, and books about substantive contemporary social issues. The availability of these books is critical because many children, especially those from poorer backgrounds, may lack access to a wide selection of books and a quiet place to read. Given the important role reading plays in sharpening thinking and writing, this carved out time for communal reading is a powerful one, especially at a time in history where digital technologies can be a major source of distraction and when fewer children are reading for pleasure. 

Freedom Schools started 60 years ago, arising out of the Civil Rights Movement. But as Dr. Alridge shared, “movements don’t stop. They don’t end although we are in a different era.” He highlighted that the movement to protect our environment, teach a more culturally relevant history, and end gun violence are all highly salient present-day movements. Further, he shared that the movement to embrace each other regardless of our race, gender, or religion are core components of the movements we are in today. He sees today’s movement as much more expansive than in the 60’s as we are in a movement seeking equality among all people.

To support the Charlottesville Freedom School (CFS), apply for your child to be a scholar at the next Freedom School by visiting the CFS website, https://tinyurl.com/39wp3ynw. Email uvafs@virginia.edu to become a future Harambe reader, volunteer, or a servant leader, or to donate.

Categories
Business Community Community Development Education Gail Esterman

Local Child Care Entrepreneurs Shine Bright for Kids

children walk along a sidewalk aided by caretakers
Princess Long's A Mother's Touch Child Care business ushers children along a sidewalk, Photo Credit: Princess Long

by Gail Esterman; featured photo by Princess Long

My name is Gail Esterman and I have always been drawn to stories about how children are treated by our society and wondered why we choose to fail so many when we could do better. In my professional life, spanning New York City and Virginia, I’ve worked in mental health, adult and early childhood education, and non-profit program and policy development. I have had the privilege to get to know many individuals who quietly do the hard, unrecognized, and under-compensated labor of care and community building. In that spirit, I wanted to share the story of two successful Charlottesville business owners who I met through a professional development program for early childhood care and education providers. As a white ally, I also feel compelled to share images that disrupt the deficit narrative put out by the mainstream media about the Black community.

News headlines drum a steady beat these days about the child care crisis. Reporters highlight unaffordable tuition, the dearth of available spots, especially for infants, and the low pay – less than what fast food servers make – that leads to a revolving door of high staff turnover and classroom closures. Young families from the working- and middle-classes are left to cobble together a care plan and are unprepared for the lack of affordable options to keep their little ones safe, healthy, cherished, and learning while they work or go to school. 

Even before the pandemic, child care offered a problematic business model. “We have a product that costs more to produce than most of the customers who need it can afford to pay. It’s that simple,” says Linda Smith from the Early Childhood Development Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “You can’t raise the wages of the staff without raising the fees to parents, and they’re tapped out.” Smith wants Americans to recognize child care as an essential public good that has to be paid for by society at large. 

The reluctance to fund childcare is not just about fiscal conservatism. When I wrote to Representative Bob Good (R-VA) in 2021, urging him to support early childhood initiatives, his response was, “It would … give the government greater control of our children, and provide the opportunity for them to be indoctrinated with left-leaning curriculum at even earlier ages.” Clearly, there are issues of power and equity at play in what seems at face value to be a straightforward, bipartisan commonality – businesses need workers, workers need child care and everyone benefits from a strong system. Dig deeper and you’ll find that the burden of child care in the United States has historically been borne by women – mostly women of color. Unlike other developed countries where there is more recognition of the reality and needs of working families, women’s invisible labor subsidizes both families and businesses. Two Black women I’ve met in Charlottesville, Princess Long and Rita Cunningham, are making unique, laudatory, and successful efforts to help turn the tide when it comes to a dearth of childcare. I’ll tell you a bit of their stories here.

a woman poses on a sofa
Business owner and entrepreneur Princess Long of A Mother’s Touch Child Care, Photo Credit: Princess Long

A Mother’s Touch Child Care

I park my car on a wide, quiet street in Charlottesville, looking forward to talking with Princess Long, a local child care owner. I have no trouble finding her house — the front yard is surrounded by a white wooden fence, the brightly colored materials and child-sized equipment on the lawn calling out an invitation to play. There is a toy kitchen, a “forest” made of foam pool noodles sticking up from the ground, a picnic table, and some climbers and slides. It doesn’t feel cluttered, but rather set up intentionally to appeal to small children. A sign lets me know I am at “A Mother’s Touch Child Care.” 

I am here to learn about how Princess created a successful home childcare business during a pandemic. We sit together on the front porch while the children nap inside, supervised by another caregiver. “What inspired you to develop this magical place?” I ask, gesturing toward the yard and house. Princess explains that before opening her program, she worked in the food industry but knew that it wasn’t a forever thing. “Since I was a little girl, I was always involved in caring for children and seniors. I have a loving spirit,” she says. She dreamed of working for herself doing something she loved but was afraid to venture into the unknown. “I wasn’t mentally prepared right away.” In 2021, she wasn’t scared any more. “I thought, will I sink or float? Thank God I’m floating.” 

I ask about the challenges of getting started. “The licensing process was very overwhelming. There was so much information to learn about the state regulations, food standards, and the childcare subsidy process. At times I felt like my pot was going to boil over.” Princess found community resources to “help us to be the best that we can be” like the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center, ReadyKids, Child Care Aware of Virginia, and the USDA Food Service. “People came out to the home and provided feedback and ideas you wouldn’t have thought of. For example, they brought our attention to asking children open-ended questions to get them thinking and talking more.” There were also grants to help purchase “anything that supports kids development.” She says, by now, most of the upkeep has become routine. At the same time, the regulations keep changing so there is always something new to incorporate. 

“A Mother’s Touch” is licensed to enroll up to 12 children, the most that a home-based program can serve. “While we’re not a big center, we serve a community need.” Some families prefer a smaller setting, and like the mixed-age group and consistency. Princess has a long waitlist. “I hate to tell families ‘no.’ I hear the worry in their voices.” When she turns a family away, there aren’t many options – the supply simply doesn’t meet the demand. Additionally, a review of national 2019 data showed that only 16% of children eligible for a government subsidy were able to obtain one, limiting access even more for low-income families. The quality of the available slots varies. If a child care program isn’t full, there may be reasons why. One parent left A Mother’s Touch for a free preschool program, only to return a few weeks later because her daughter was not happy. 

That brings me to the heart of the matter. Why do families choose “A Mother’s Touch Child Care,” and why do they stay? Here’s where Princess really lights up. “I think they see in my smile and my voice that I care for each and every child. There is such innocence in these early years, and it’s amazing to be part of their growth and development. We are dropping golden nuggets! I’m not just here for the paycheck. Here, we let kids be kids. We don’t impose limitations. We teach independence, community, and manners. Kids learn and grow through play.” Princess and her staff receive ongoing training on a new curriculum developed at the University of Virginia. She says proudly, “We were already doing so much of it. They have it organized into categories and explained the ‘why’ but we were on the right track.”

children play outdoors in a plastic pool
A group of children play in a plastic pool of water at Princess Long’s A Mother’s Touch Child Care, Photo Credit: Princess Long

Princess notes that these days, many children don’t get to be outside enough. On her Facebook page, she shares photos of an outdoor obstacle course created for the children to use their large muscles. Another sequence shows a water-pouring activity that illustrates learning through sensory pleasure and excitement. Her page also displays a certificate from the Commonwealth of Virginia that designates A Mother’s Touch as a certified Small Micro, Woman-Owned, Minority-Owned business. 

The program is part of the local community. Neighbors come over to play guitar or invite the children to visit their resident roosters. Even trash pickup becomes an interactive opportunity – the children run out to greet the “big green truck” on their weekly rounds. One day, the sanitation workers surprise them with a furry hand puppet who wants to play! On National Garbage Truck Day, the children paint a mural to hang on the fence, and bring small bags filled with snacks for their working friends. Princess jumps up to show me the chant she leads, pantomiming the motion of the truck as it picks up and empties the containers: “The arms go up up up, and then they shake, shake shake,” her body swiveling and arms coming down. Her enthusiasm is infectious.  

As children get up from their naps, we bring our conversation to an end. Before I leave, I ask what’s next. Princess points to where she will be planting carrots, green beans, and tomatoes. She found someone willing to share some gardening expertise, and thinks the children will love it. I think she’s right. 

“What would you say to someone wanting to get started in child care?” I ask as I close the gate. Princess pauses. “A love for children, and patience. Oh, and endurance.”

Rita Cunningham of Rita’s Bright Beginnings, Photo Credit: Erin Flowers

Rita’s Bright Beginnings 

The day I’m scheduled to visit with Rita Cunningham, the owner of Rita’s Bright Beginnings, I park near the old JCPenney’s in the Fashion Square mall – or what’s left of it. The storefront is subtle, not screaming out that there is a childcare center. There are welcoming signs on the frosted windows and one inside designating them as a Breast-Feeding Friendly program. As I enter, Rita comes out to greet me and motions to a woman sit

ting behind the front desk reviewing a pile of files. I can tell right away that she is a licensing inspector from the Virginia Department of Education. Rita has only been open for 25 days in this location. While the unannounced inspection is routine, and not an indication that anything is wrong, I know Rita will want to be available to the inspector so we agree to reschedule for another time. 

I return two days later to find out the inspection went well. I am aware that this is a huge relief, but not an accident. Rita has worked hard to open her first center, and she is serious about her success. I saw the space before Rita had decided to rent it, back in August 2022. Cracked vinyl floors needed repairs, walls had to be moved, and only a few sets of cubbies were pushed up against the walls. That day, Rita walked me around, showing where she imagined each classroom might be and how the kitchen would be set up. The location would be convenient with easy parking for parents needing a quick drop-off en route to school or work. I can’t wait to catch up with Rita now that the center is finally open, where it can hold up to 40 children. 

Rita studied elementary education in college but realized her love was for younger children. She focused on classes about toddlers and preschoolers and decided that this was her life’s calling. After college, she worked in a few centers. When her own son turned three months old, she wanted to be at home with him. She also wanted to show other young children “what I see in them.” In 2014, Rita opened her first home daycare in Harrisonburg. When she moved to Charlottesville, she started “Rita’s Bright Beginnings” in her home. “A lot of businesses failed during the pandemic, but mine thrived. No matter what the crisis, people need child care.” Soon, Rita needed more space to serve more children and began to look for a larger facility. 

a child poses in a mirror
Rita’s Bright Beginnings, Photo Credit: Erin Flowers

Once she found the site, the work began. “There were inspections from the fire marshall, building inspectors, health department approvals – so many steps to go through before I could even turn in the application. I had to find staff and to figure out how many I would need. I’m choosy about staff even though it’s hard to pay them what we should because we can’t make the rates higher for families.” She pauses for a few seconds. “Getting the building permit took much longer than it should have – they just didn’t see my vision and dreams and kept asking me why I wanted to be there. At times like those, I’ve wanted to give up, but I pushed through and took it day by day.” 

Word-of-mouth referrals have been plentiful with some paying in advance to reserve a spot. “Families see that their children will be safe and loved here. In my home program, I had a huge outside area which was great but now we don’t have the big yard. Families were comfortable with me, but it’s not just me anymore. I tried to think about how to make the center reflect ‘me.’ I thought, ‘what else we can offer? What will make us stand out?’ We provide breakfast, lunch, nap mats, food, formula, diapers, and wipes. We have an infant menu, a non-infant menu, and vegan options.” 

Rita continues, “Birthdays are a big deal here – the whole center celebrates the child. We are inclusive of all different types of holidays and celebrations. We integrate different traditions and don’t leave anyone out. We offer a “loose parts” approach that provides children with materials to create and build instead of only presenting toys that can be used one way. We don’t do TV time; the recommendation from doctors is to limit it and parents are paying for their children to learn when they are here.” 

I ask Rita if she sees herself as an entrepreneur and the answer is an unequivocal yes. “What keeps me going is my own kids. I want my kids to see what their Mom did. Someday this will be theirs. Whether it’s a daycare or something else, I want them to know they can help someone else in life.” Rita adds, “It still amazes me when I go places and people recognize me as the lady with the daycare.” 

Rita is driven by a very personal mission. “Maybe some of the kids don’t have someone at home who has enough time for them because of everything they are dealing with. So we’re the ones loving them, we’re the ones teaching them. We spend time on them.” She becomes pensive. “I didn’t have a mother and father present when I was growing up. When they come here, kids are getting everything I wanted but didn’t have.” 

As I get ready to go, I ask Rita what keeps her up at night? She pauses. “Did I get it all done?” I look around and am struck by just how much she has gotten done and how bright the future is for Rita’s Bright Beginnings.

—

Princess and Rita represent a long, long tradition in the Black community of educators, innovators, and advocates for the next generation. They bring their unique gifts to their businesses and our community is fortunate to have them. In spite of the ongoing challenges like low wages, mounting demand, and ever evolving regulations, these women display a resilience that nurtures the community around them. If the system doesn’t change, it will continue to be hard for more small, culturally diverse business owners to get started, stay afloat, and offer families solid, high-quality choices. It is a complex issue and we need more voices at the table asking why this system isn’t working for families or providers, and how we can make it better.

 

 

Categories
Arts Community Community Development Jessica Harris

Marisa Williamson & “Unsettling Grounds” 

a woman near a window
Marisa Williamson during an Unsettling Grounds planning meeting. Photo Credit: Hyeyon Moon

by Jessica Harris; featured photo by Hyeyon Moon

The Unsettling Grounds mobile app is now available to download on all iOS and Android devices at https://unsettlinggrounds.com/. 

Marisa Williamson is an artist unafraid of pushing boundaries and challenging narratives. 

Perhaps that’s why her most recent creation, an augmented reality mobile app called Unsettling Grounds, has such an apt title. The piece contextualizes Charlottesville’s Woolen Mills by inviting users to engage in its history via interactive and creative experiences. Suffice to say, the app is in line with Marisa’s powerful, gripping, artistic style. 

Grappling with history and its impact is not new to Marisa. Growing up in Philadelphia, she was instilled with “the idea of history being alive and something you walk through every day.” This notion of the importance of bringing history to the present wove its way into her artistic praxis, too, as her work grapples with themes of history, race, feminism, and technology.

a woman holding up plans for an exhibition
Marisa Williamson, at an Unsettling Grounds planning meeting. Photo credit: Hyeyon Moon

Her pieces are riveting, bold, and innovative. She uses performance art, mixed media, textiles, and more to challenge narratives of the past and create living monuments to ancestors. As such, she believes that “some of the things borrowed from the world of activism can find a place in art.”

Marisa received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, and while she didn’t plan to pursue art in college, she soon discovered the potential that art has to challenge and transform. She later deepened her work in the intersection of social change and creativity at CalArts where she received her Master’s of Fine Arts. 

This “artivism” philosophy also aligns with her extensive work as an educator. She’s taught in just about every educational setting imaginable: elementary schools, alternative schools, and  higher education settings. “I really like taking young folks through a space and doing inquiry-based learning, asking them what they see and think about history and art… and trying to see what’s not there,” she says.

Since 2021, she’s been on faculty at the University of Virginia where she completed an artist residency in 2018. And while Marisa might not be a Charlottesville native, her work and this locale have been inextricably linked for years. She’s created site-specific work at Monticello and at the University of Virginia. Some of her more well known works grapple with Sally Hemings, an important historical figure and former enslaved laborer at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate, and the impact of her legacy. 

In her artist statement, Marisa shares that she hopes her work provides “insight not only into how history is understood, but how it is felt.” She strives to create works that you can teach from, and art that invites dialogue and reflection. “Slow art,” she says, “art that takes awhile to unpack or to launch or to land” is equally important to her. And her latest curated project, Unsettling Grounds, is a perfect combination of these elements. 

a group of people in a community space
The creative team at an Unsettling Grounds planning meeting at Visible Records. Photo credit: Jay Simple

It’s an app that powerfully couples art with history, and contemporary engagement with contextualization. The app officially launched in June 2023 and is an augmented reality and interactive storytelling tool, highlighting experimental and monumental works by Black, Brown, Indigenous & rural artists. Per the app’s description, “using this app, audiences will uncover hidden histories of lesser-known struggles for freedom….Unsettling Grounds makes visible and audible the hidden past.”

“The plan was to pull ideas together, and to create digital and monumental scenes that reflected history,” Marisa says. Users must move their phone – walk forward and backward, turn around, and be fully immersed in space to engage fully with the scenes and uncover the stories. While the app guides users through the Woolen Mills area, one does not need to be on-site to use it. The immersive and interactive components can be launched and engaged with anywhere. 

a screenshot from an app
A screenshot from the Unsettling Grounds application.

The process of putting together the application was a whirlwind experience. In partnership with Albemarle County, the project received grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts in September 2022. Between last fall and the official launch, Marisa and her team have been working overtime to bring this piece to life. 

The app features work by artists Marie Tattiana Aqeel, Joumana Altallal, Myra Anderson, April Branham, Tanesha Hudson, Aidyn Mancenido, Alma Rayen Molina, Kweisi Morris, Adrienne Jacobson Oliver, and Sandy Williams IV. It was fabricated by Dream Syndicate, and received support from Amber Smith, Brandon Lee, and The Bridge PAI. “It was a good group that really challenged me. There’s a monumental thing that happened just in the group collaborating and trying to get stuff done, which I hope to make happen again somehow,” Marisa smiles. 

Perhaps equally fulfilling for Marisa was the launch event for the app, and seeing different groups of people connecting with one another and mingling in the space. “It was interesting at the launch to have the kind of vibe of underground-ness in this slightly intimate space,” she notes. The power of connection with the community was felt – both in the app and at the launch event. 

a gathering with dozens of people
The Unsettling Grounds launch event. Photo credit: Jay Simple

When asked what she hopes folks walk away with after engaging with Unsettling Grounds, she says, “I want people to enjoy being immersed in these kinds of sonic archival experiences, and I want them to be curious about getting to the bottom of it.” She also hopes users leave with the understanding that “we as people won’t be the first and we won’t be the last. And we need to live like that.” 

The team’s goal is to hold artist talks or tours and bring the project more fully into the community, using it as a tool for education and dialogue. As for her personal artwork, Marisa’s hoping to head back into the studio to finish up some new and exciting projects. No matter where her work may take her, Marisa is sure to leave an indelible legacy – both in augmented and actual reality. 

–

To download the Unsettling Grounds app, visit: https://unsettlinggrounds.com/

To learn more about Marisa, visit her website at: www.marisawilliamson.com

Categories
Community Community Development Education Health and Wellness Tasha Durrett Uncategorized

Black and Green: Meet Josephus Allmond

a man poses in front of a school
Josephus Allmond poses at a school site. Photo Credit: Stu Maxey

by Tasha Durrett; featured photo by Stu Maxey  

Advocacy looks like a lot of things. It can be protesting in the streets or working directly with communities seeking equitable and fair treatment. It can be pursuing public service for the implicit purpose of advocating for a certain group of people. It can also be a combination of all  these things.   

For Josephus Allmond, a senior associate attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), there have been times when the faces of environmental policy and advocacy didn’t look like him and the voices didn’t sound like his, which makes his status as a leader in solar energy and environmental justice in the state even more crucial.  

Environmental justice is the fair treatment – and inclusion – of all people regardless of race, income, or zip code with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Injustices show up in the form of placing polluting industries in Black and brown communities at a rate disproportionate to others. Additional examples of environmental injustice include the lack of clean water in these same communities and/or targeting these communities for mining exploration. Leaving these communities out of beneficial infrastructure developments are also threats to environmental justice. Such developments can include increased green space, electric vehicle charging stations, and funding that would improve access to public transit.

Allmond’s outlook on the journey to his career in environmental justice has always been one of opportunity. From being invited to the inauguration of President Barack Obama while in high school to attending community college to completing law school, he counts every experience he has had and will have as an opportunity to learn, grow, and, when possible, to help others.  

“The South hasn’t always been my home. I grew up in different places throughout the country and had the opportunity to experience some lower-income areas and apartment buildings, as well as living with my dad in a home in a more well-off neighborhood,” Allmond said. “All of that has shaped my desire to further environmental and social justice through my professional career and outside of the office.”  

This commitment to walking the walk and talking the talk in all aspects of his life can be seen through his work with 100 Black Men of Central Virginia and participation in the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation’s Community Advisory Committee.  

Allmond joined the SELC at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the nonprofit’s Glynn D. Key Fellowship, a program for law students and practicing attorneys who have a strong interest or demonstrated commitment to working to advance environmental justice.   

Headquartered in Charlottesville, the SELC has offices in six states and Washington, D.C. When Allmond joined the Virginia office he was one of just a few Black attorneys in the organization. Flash forward to the present, and the SELC’s Black attorneys gather every couple of months over Teams, something that Allmond is proud to be a part of.  

“We are all proud to be members of the organization, but also excited to be using our field and expertise to advance issues that impact communities like those some of us grew up in,” Allmond said.  

Allmond focuses on energy and utilities work and leads solar and environmental justice work in Virginia. Access to clean, affordable energy for everyone regardless of race and zip code tops his priorities. He says the environmental space must diversify if it is to successfully serve communities facing environmental injustice.  

“Environmental injustices have disproportionately burdened Black and other communities of color, and areas where residents have lower incomes, especially in the South,” he explains. “Having people in the conservation space who have experienced those injustices firsthand is critical to addressing those very injustices: they can bring their lived experience to the table in ways that traditional members of the conservation community cannot.”  

The SELC’s environmental justice initiative is now three years old and focuses on working with client and partner organizations led by people of color, centering issues that impact them.  

Also unique is the role Allmond plays as part of the energy team at the organization.   

“Clean energy and access to energy alternatives have largely been determined by where you live, and whether you are a homeowner or not. My colleagues and I, along with partners across the state, are fighting to change that,” he said.   

Allmond has seen wins and losses in this area, pointing out that last year, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission set the minimum bill for its shared solar bill at $55 per month. Thankfully, low-income customers are exempt from the minimum bill, so they will sign up. But for those who don’t qualify as low-income, that high minimum bill makes the program unaffordable.   

“That’s why we worked so hard at the General Assembly this session to reduce that minimum bill amount, so Virginians of all income levels can access the program,” he said.    

While Charlottesville is a lot different from Chico, California, where he spent much of his childhood, Allmond says he is finally feeling like more of a resident.   

“I find that everyone in this city is navigating so many different spaces,” he said. “I just want to help amplify the voices of those in spaces that I’m able to and help anyone who will listen understand that environmental justice, climate justice, energy justice – they’re all a part of the bigger justice picture that plays out in the courts, through law.”  

In his free time, Allmond enjoys life in Charlottesville with his girlfriend and dogs, works out, and attempts to keep up with the city’s food scene.  

“I don’t know if I’m a foodie, but I love trying new foods and restaurants and supporting Black-owned businesses around the city,” he said.   

What would he like Charlottesville to know about him and the SELC?   

“I think there are a lot of Black and other people of color in Charlottesville that have spent their lives being the only one in certain rooms and at certain tables. That’s gradually changing at SELC and throughout this city. I think we can all win at new, inclusive tables built on advocacy and mutual aid. I’m here to help that happen.” 

 

Categories
Business Channing Mathews Community Community Development Education Entertainment Food and Drink

Finding Space to Thrive: Black Women Who Wine

a woman seated with a wine glass
Tasha Durrett, Founder and owner of Black Women Who Wine, photo provided by Tasha Durrett

by Channing Mathews

Black Women Who Wine is a love letter to Black women and our thriving. Initially a small meet-up between sisters and a niece, the group has expanded to connect Black women to explore Virginia wineways, and offer critical social support in the aftermath of COVID-19. “My favorite parts are my efforts to try and support more sisterhood,” notes founder Tasha Durrett. “I am so interested in seeing Black women coming together and supporting each other. I think that it’s so important that we build these spaces for each other and for ourselves.”

Operating since 2019, Tasha has a passion for the visibility of Black women in wine. A communications and marketing expert by training, she was struck by the limited representation of Black women as regular patrons of Virginia wineries, “When I came back here, I started going to wineries I liked on social media, but I found myself really frustrated by the lack of attention to Black women as patrons. I knew we were there, but I didn’t see us being re-shared on Instagram, or us being included in marketing, and I really felt some type of way about that.” Tasha leverages the group as a space to challenge stereotypes about Black people in wine, noting common stereotypes that Black people don’t drink wine or can’t afford it. Thus creating Black Women Who Wine was a space to cultivate her digital advocacy, to highlight beautiful and joyful Black women in spaces that are often both white and male dominated. Hosting monthly events at different wineries across Virginia, Tasha has used Black Women Who Wine as a platform for wine education and access to the wine industry, particularly wine incubators that serve to train the next generation of winemakers. “The wine space is just as male as it is white, so there is also a real gender problem there with women in winemaking.” Tasha’s efforts to shift this inequity take shape by bringing Black women to the table for both joy and education in Virginia wine. 

a group of Black women
A group picture of Black Women Who Wine (BWWW) at one of its monthly meet-ups at Valley Road Vineyards. BWWW hosts monthly meet-ups to explore new wineries, receive wine education, and fellowship.

Black Women Who Wine focuses on three key goals through their events, namely, 1.) leveraging their spending to impact social change in the wine industry; 2.) educating members about wine; and 3.) forming sustainable partnerships with local wineries to promote diversity in both the hiring and marketing aspects of the wine space. Their most recent event, The Summer Kickoff, emphasized all three of these practices by hosting the event at Sweet Vines Farm Winery in Unionville, known as Virginia’s only Black-owned winery space. The owner, Seidah Armstrong, is an advocate for Black women to come and use the space as a point of connection and investment, and members of Black Women Who Wine have been repeat customers each year investing in the winery’s success. “Sweet Vines offers lifetime memberships for patrons who spend a certain dollar amount. Black Women Who Wine has nearly reached that goal, [as we look to be] key investors in this [Black-owned} wine and event space.”

When asked about her vision for the future of Black Women Who Wine, Tasha is focused on building out her brand while simultaneously creating investment opportunities for its members. “My ultimate vision is [that] we have ownership in something because that’s the way to have power in any space. Looking at what ownership looks like for us, ‘cause I think there is so much power in us coming together for something like that. I see wine and grape growing in [Virginia] as similar to growing any crop. It takes a while to get in there, it takes finances to get there. But there is a lot that is not being said about who controls land and how people got land, and how generational wealth plays into these spaces, in ways that Black people ultimately don’t have.” 

a table set for wine tasting
The Workshop at The Wool Factory hosted Black Women Who Wine for a private tasting earlier this year.

Tasha looks to shift this narrative with future investments, particularly pointing to the recent success of well known and well loved Black woman sommelier Lee Campbell, who is a partial owner of the new Virginia wine incubator, Commonwealth Crush Co. that seeks to invest in the next generation of winemakers. “[Lee Campbell} is a sommelier coming from New York, but she’s been involved with Virginia wine for a very long time, taking wine from Virginia into restaurants in New York. Her first wine produced through Commonwealth crush is out. So not only are we growing people here, but we are attracting people from other spaces. And she is gonna be a great asset to the Charlottesville wine community.”

Alongside Lee and other Black women making moves in the Charlottesville wine industry, Tasha pushes Black Women Who Wine to be a space that brings Black girl magic to the forefront of an industry that often renders us invisible. “We are gonna be a wine group to be reckoned with because we are gonna know our stuff,” Tasha states. She thrives on the building the success of other Black women, particularly while curating spaces that cultivate Black Girl Joy. 

Find Tasha and more Black Women Who Wine events on their website. Their next event will be a July 15, 2023 meet up at CrossKeys Winery and Marceline Vineyards. You can RSVP here to save your spot!

Categories
Community Development Katrina Spencer Travel

Georgia to Germany: 4,656 Miles East

a man poses for a photo outside
Lyric Thomas overseas in Germany

by Katrina Spencer

It was a psychic by the name of Sylvia who works on Broughton street in Savannah, Georgia that first told Lyric Thomas he and his family would be living together overseas. The child of military enlistees, Lyric was no stranger to frequent uprootings, so it wasn’t fear that caused him to doubt her words. The prophecy just didn’t make sense. He hadn’t even applied to a job outside of the United States! How exactly was this supposed to happen? But like so many literary figures from prominent texts, like Oedipus of Greco-Roman mythology and the biblical Jonah who tried to outrun their fates, the prediction would eventually find him, and, it turned out, Sylvia, after all, was right. 

In about a year’s time, Lyric and his family were headed to Stuttgart, Germany. He’d been “headhunted,” or recruited with intention, after having placed his resume in a database some 10 years prior, and was hired to work in cybersecurity. The offer was one easily accepted by both him and his spouse. The transition, however, was a bit bumpier. When he was originally invited to work overseas, the hiring personnel asked if he’d be ready to report to duty in a week’s time. Negative. Lyric, his wife, and kids, had the small issues of a house to sell, family pets to re-home, and school enrollments to navigate. You know: casual, quick, easy. 

The idea of making a significant move wasn’t so hard for Lyric. As a youth, his parents’ careers had taken him from the Virgin Islands to Germany to New York to California and to Georgia. When his folks received “PCS orders” in army speak– a “permanent change of station” in layman’s terms– the family upped and went where called. “I’ve adapted to not staying in places too long,” Lyric says, embracing the “army brat” moniker that many ultra-mobile military kids have. He had to orient himself anew in unfamiliar environments over and over again, which ultimately contributed to his sense of independence. Now, as an adult, Lyric finds little need to seek out the opinions, approval, or direction of others.

For a time, Lyric had settled in Georgia. He attended college there, earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science from a historically Black university, Savannah State. Georgia was where his parents and siblings were and where his children were growing up. However, there were certain recurrent themes in Atlanta, an urban area of 5 million people, that rubbed him the wrong way. Both his car and home had been broken into, he felt that greed surrounded him, and he noted a pervasive “crabs in a barrel mentality”– an approach to life in which every time one member of a community makes headway in an attempt to escape an unpleasant reality, he, she, or they are pulled back down by members of the same group suffering from the same problems. It was toxic. So, when opportunity came a-knockin,’ Lyric was there, primed to answer.

a family of four
Lyric Thomas (left) and his children

When Lyric and his family touched down in Stuttgart, a city of 627,000 people, many of whom are retirees, there were some adjustments to be made. His onboarding would not be without bumps and blips. Their first two months were spent in a hotel. One thing Lyric soon realized was that while he was an army brat, accustomed to diving into strange and new scenarios, his children were not. Also, his wife’s attempts to find work were harder than anticipated. And even though his company had shipped his car across the Atlantic as a service to him, tiny European streets were not made for large, American Dodges. The transition was going to take some time.

Eventually the kinks got ironed out. The family fell into a rhythm and came to love their new surroundings. A key, Lyric recounts, was not to give up too soon. He notes that some of the positions overseas have a high turnover rate because people arrive, expect one type of experience, and let go when those expectations aren’t met. Life in Germany is different than it is in the States, but it’s not necessarily for the worse, an ongoing narrative that Lyric promotes on his TikTok channel @Lyric2notes1. In addition to “army brat,” he calls himself a “share-aholic,” and is documenting a variety of impressions he has as an immigrant abroad. “When I walk out of my house,” he says, “I don’t have to worry about my neighbor having a .45 on his hip.” Gun violence in the United States is not only a concern to its citizens and residents, but several countries, too, have issued travel advisories alerting foreigners of its frequency in the U.S. Lyric feels safer in Stuttgart.

a group of friends pose for a photo
Lyric Thomas (center) poses for a photo with friends known as “The Breakfast Club” overseas

Other changes? Lyric has noticed that the food he eats and buys in Stuttgart isn’t processed and is generally free of preservatives. This means that consumers are more aware of what they’re putting into their bodies. It also means that the food goes bad faster and warrants frequent trips to the grocery store. The climate, too, he says, has an effect on one’s health. Germany is cooler than Georgia and less exposure to the sun means fewer opportunities to get vitamin D, which can be significant, especially for people with pre-existing conditions and/or disorders. But overall, Lyric appears rather contented. When I ask him if he’ll be coming back to the States, his answer is yes, followed by “but not for good.” He insists that Black people do not have to remain anywhere we are not being mentally, physically, spiritually, financially, and/or economically sustained. “If that makes me an Uncle Tom,” he says, “get me a cabin.” 

For more from Lyric, follow him on TikTok on the @Lyric2notes1 channel, and for Black people moving to Germany, Lyric encourages you to seek out social connections and affinity groups as he has with “The Breakfast Club.”

 

Categories
Arts Community Community Development Entertainment Hometown Heroes Jessica Harris

Ti Ames and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” 

the cast of a play
The cast of the Charlottesville Players Guild's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Photo: Full cast (Top row: (l-r) Ivan Orr as Toledo, Jude Hansen as Irvin, Leslie Scott-Jones as Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Keaira Reese as Dussie Mae, Saturn Edwards as Sylvester Brown, Nick Hagy as Sturdyvant, Stephen Haske as Policeman; Bottom row: (l-r) Jordan Sykes as Cutler, Greg Thompson as Levee, Ike Anderson as Slow Drag). Credit: Cara Walton Photography

by Jessica Harris; featured photo by Cara Walton Photography

Featured photo: Full cast. Top row: (l-r) Ivan Orr as Toledo, Jude Hansen as Irvin, Leslie Scott-Jones as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Keaira Reese as Dussie Mae, Saturn Edwards as Sylvester Brown, Nick Hagy as Sturdyvant, Stephen Haske as Policeman; Bottom row: (l-r) Jordan Sykes as Cutler, Greg Thompson as Levee, Ike Anderson as Slow Drag. 

To reserve your ticket to “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” visit the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center website. Updated shows run June 15- 17 and June 29- July 2, 2023 | Thursday-Saturday, shows are at 7:30pm; Sundays at 2pm. General Admission: $20. All tickets will be at will call. To get in touch with director Ti Ames, email them at sankofalovely@gmail.com.

It goes without saying that the dynamic Ti Ames is a familiar face around Charlottesville. 

Maybe that’s because they’ve been embedded in the community for over 20 years. Or maybe because they’re an accomplished director and performer, singing and acting on stages all over the region. Or perhaps it’s because of their role as Education Director at Live Arts.

Whatever the reason, it’s an indisputable fact that Ti is a creative artist, visionary, and educator whose work has left an indelible impact on our community. And their latest work directing “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Charlottesville Players Guild (CPG) is certainly no exception. 

Ti was born in Baltimore, but moved to Charlottesville at a young age when their mom started a church in the area. The creative arts have always been a part of their life and guiding their journey. “I was that kid who ran to my imagination all the time because it was safe and fun,” Ti smiles.

a person sits on a stage
Ti Ames, Director of the Charlottesville Players Guild’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Summer 2023. Photo credit: Anna Kariel Photography.

They first entered the Charlottesville arts scene at age 8 when they took part in an animation camp at Light House Studio. The next summer, they participated in camps at Live Arts, and did so until age 17. “I did everything I could to be an actor,” Ti shared. They poured themselves into theatre, participating in local shows and engaging in as many opportunities as they could – both locally and even nationally. 

However, it wasn’t until they began studying at Oberlin College that they truly discovered the power of Blackness in theatre. “It took taking classes linked in both theatre and Africana studies to realize, ‘Hey, there’s more to theatre than just white plays and white theatre,’” Ti shared. And this entry into Black theatre practice has been transformational for them, to say the least.

After exploring the performance route for a bit, Ti found that acting wasn’t their calling. “I didn’t want to hide anymore…I wanted to be,” Ti reflected. This desire to be pulled them towards directing. And similar to their younger self whose imagination ran wild with creativity and sought escape, part of Ti’s love of directing came from their love of building worlds. They shared, “I realized that I was building worlds in my head, and I wanted to put them out in the world.”

Their directorial mission is to foster safe space for actors to explore and create through ritual, and to tap into folks’ inner child. Ti works to help actors advocate for themselves, support each other, and foster community. “I think Black people, we naturally do that wherever we go. But it’s nice to be able to help teach people how to do that,” they smiled. 

Most recently, Ti put those skills into practice, directing August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at CPG. The play is centered on four Black, male band members, and titular character Ma Rainey as they perform in a white recording studio in Chicago, 1927. They are all trying to make a living, while the white record label staff seeks to increase their profits on the backs of these Black performers. 

a woman sings at a microphone
Leslie Scott-Jones as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Ma sings “Hear Me Talking To You” in the recording studio. Photo credit: Cara Walton Photography

“Ma Rainey is the story of survival of this band who was trying their hardest to make money, but also emotionally, mentally, and spiritually sustain themselves. And how is that even possible when there’s a white man breathing over your shoulder every five seconds?” Ti asked. 

In CPG’s production, Ti has drawn a parallel between 1927 and 2023. “We’re talking about how Black people, whether right when enslavement began or now, have been performing for white people and performing a certain level of Blackness for their own safety, for their own protection, for their well-being generally.” And, in line with August Wilson’s other plays, this production interrogates that plight, and seeks to peel back the characters’ multilayered Black experience.

Part of what makes this CPG production so powerful is an exciting spin Ti’s added. “What you’re expecting to hear is 1920s blues and jazz feel right? What you’re going to get is jazz and blues with a neo soul spin with an early 2000’s R&B spin. We are illustrating that not much has changed. Whether you are a blues singer in the 1920s or a hip hop mogul of 2023, who is still signing your checks?” Ti commented. 

Another aspect of this show that makes it feel communal is the fact that the audience is quite literally thrust into these intimate conversations with the characters. During the show’s opening speech, Ti invites audiences to engage in call and response – to share with the cast their reactions, laughs, and gasps throughout the show in a life-giving way. This practice breaks down barriers between the fictional world of “Ma Rainey” and the audience’s current reality, and invites us to connect across this divide. 

Additionally, this production has also brought together various artists and creatives, including actors from Charlottesville and three actors from Lynchburg. [To see the whole cast and crew, visit their virtual playbill here.]  Each of the performers has met the challenge of performing Wilson – which is to say, a tremendous lift. “Not only are people memorizing three, four-page monologues, they’re also memorizing lyrics and songs,” Ti said. “It’s ritual and performance and toeing that line.”

Yet, this show is not simply about tackling generational traumas and the plight of the music industry. The authentic joy and exuberance that the cast brings to the heavy material is tremendous. The show is simply electric, fast-paced, and real. During the show, audiences witness these captivating characters as they share their memories, traumas, passions, and loves – and remain present with them every step of the way. 

This talented ensemble of performers brings a connection and energy that is palpable. And it’s even more special that this show is performed at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, a space filled with such rich history and meaning for Black Charlottesville. “I walk into the theatre every day and remind myself I’m a part of a legacy of CPG that’s been here for nearly 100 years,” Ti remarked. “So to be able to continue in that legacy means a lot.”

the cast of a play
Photo: Full cast (Top row: (l-r) Ivan Orr as Toledo, Jude Hansen as Irvin, Leslie Scott-Jones as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Keaira Reese as Dussie Mae, Saturn Edwards as Sylvester Brown, Nick Hagy as Sturdyvant, Stephen Haske as Policeman; Bottom row: (l-r) Jordan Sykes as Cutler, Greg Thompson as Levee, Ike Anderson as Slow Drag). Credit: Cara Walton Photography

As the audience leaves the theatre, Ti wants them singing. “Not just singing, but SANGING,” Ti laughs. “I want them singing their feelings. I want them singing about how they experienced the show.” They hope that they continue discussing its themes, and that they feel “transported and yet very much grounded in reality,” and realize that “that this [story] could happen at any time with anybody.” 

As for what’s on Ti’s horizon, they’re planning to pursue graduate studies in directing. They just premiered selections from their original musical Blue Ridge Mama as part of Live Arts’ WaterWorks Festival, and it will be featured production for the 2024 WaterWorks. In the near future, they’ll also be directing Fireflies at Live Arts, and another show at CPG next year. 

Do yourself a favor and catch “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” before it leaves CPG on June 25. The cast’s talented and grounded performances, and Ti’s keen and powerful directing make this an unforgettable show. Judging by this performance, their extensive body of work, and their talent, passion, and care – there’s no telling what bright future is in store for Ti Ames. 

 

Categories
Alexa Rodríguez Business Community Community Development Health and Wellness Hometown Heroes

Cherry Avenue’s Heart and Soul

a woman stretching on a yoga mat
Nicole Hawker stretches in her exercise studio.

by Alexa Rodríguez

Growing up around the Fifeville area, Nicole Hawker’s dreams of giving back to her community by creating a space for health and wellness have finally come true. A gym focused on accessibility and inclusivity, Heart and Soul Fitness with Nicole opened its doors at 818 Cherry Avenue in November of 2022. A vibe that is best described as bohemian and quirky, this charming gym is nestled within the Cherry Avenue Shopping Center and is adorned with Christmas lights, a disco ball, leafy plants, and orchids.  

Nicole Hawker, the founder and owner of Heart and Soul Fitness, originally entered into the health and fitness space while living in Tennessee in 2012. After a friend invited Nicole to the grand opening of her new gym, Smoky Mountain CrossFit, Nicole won a month of free CrossFit training. Looking back at that point in her life, Nicole describes herself as “somebody who could barely…walk to the end of my road to go get our mail without feeling like okay, I’m just gonna sit down for a minute.” But after the intense month, she noted how this profoundly transformed her life. Nicole identified how the community that formed from the fitness training was what stuck with her the most, stating, “It was just something about that space. It wasn’t just the working out; there was something about the community of people.” A year and a half later, Nicole received her level one CrossFit certification and then, in 2016, became a certified personal trainer. 

Nicole returned to Charlottesville in 2016, and two years later found herself looking to continue her fitness journey while also hoping to cultivate a space that brings people together, just as Smoky Mountain CrossFit did for her in Tennessee. I sat down with Nicole to talk about Heart and Soul Fitness. When asked about why she founded the studio, Nicole said, “I know how expensive it can be [to go to the gym]. And so, I wanted to make sure that what we did here was accessible, and that people could come in and make sure that they could work out without money being…a barrier to them.” Nicole also wanted to ensure the Black community in the area had a place where people looked like them, particularly since the neighborhood feels like home. As a child, Nicole had family members living less than a mile away and holds many fond memories of spending time with her father in the Tonsler Park area. 

exercise clothing merchandise on a rack
Heart & Soul Fitness with Nicole merchandise for sale

Nicole is particularly interested in attracting everyday people interested in starting or continuing their fitness journey. “It’s that woman who is saying, ‘I need to try something different.’ The mom who is winded from taking care of her kids… the dad who you know is going to work but who’s saying, ‘If something doesn’t change, I don’t know if I can keep at this pace.’“ It is for those who, like she was, are “sitting on the couch and [saying], ‘I’m not sure I can do this, but I’m willing to give it a shot.’” 

Heart and Soul offers classes focused on what Nicole calls “metabolic conditioning,” or a plan that integrates a combination of strength building and conditioning exercises. These workouts are designed to build strength and then a little bit of conditioning or cardio. Metabolic conditioning workouts are offered Monday through Friday mornings. The studio also offers Zumba on Wednesday evenings and is beginning to offer yoga classes on Fridays. For more information, see the full class schedule. Keeping in mind that all bodies are different, Nicole noted that “everything that is done here is modifiable to that particular person’s body.” While membership is $80 per month, Nicole encourages anyone who is interested in joining and not able to afford the monthly fee to reach out and speak with her about options. 

an exercise studio with equipment
A variety of exercise equipment found at Heart & Soul Fitness with Nicole

Returning to Charlottesville after so many years has presented both benefits and challenges for Nicole and her new gym. With any new business, it is tough to get the word out, but it has been particularly difficult since Nicole is establishing new relationships and reconnecting with old ones. However, it is evident that while the studio is relatively new, several members of the community have taken action to help the new gym. As a non-profit, Heart and Soul Fitness accepts donations for materials. Just in the last few weeks, people have donated various pieces of equipment including dumbbells, battle ropes and yoga mats. 

So, what’s next with Heart and Soul Fitness? The gym is holding an internal five kilometer walk/run for its members on Saturday, June 24th. Nicole is also expanding her yoga class offerings and is working on creating a self-defense class for the University of Virginia  community as a proud Wahoo mom. 

If you’re interested in learning more about Heart and Soul Fitness classes and events, donating equipment, or for more information about membership, feel free to contact Nicole Hawker at 865-216-7846, or visit the gym’s website at https://heartsoulfitness.org/.

 

Categories
Community Development Education Hometown Heroes Naila Smith

Zyahna Bryant: Black Woman Activist

a woman poses for a photo
Zyahna Bryant poses for a photo.

by Naila A. Smith, PhD

Zyahna Bryant is a powerhouse. At 22 years old, the Charlottesville native, youth activist, and community organizer, has shown up, spoken out, and been a catalyst for change in her community for the past decade. 

Zyahna’s first racial awakening came around age 12, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenage boy in Sanford, Florida, to death. She recalls this as the first major incident of racial injustice that happened in her lifetime. Deeply impacted by this event, she organized a protest in Charlottesville seeking justice for his death and that of other unarmed Black men who had died due to police violence. 

Soon after, Zyahna became connected to a network of local leaders, activists, and community organizers in the city of Charlottesville and embarked on her journey of student activism. She served on the Charlottesville Youth Council, a group of 17 young people who help inform the local government and community about issues affecting the youth. With this group, she recommended actions to improve the city and attended local government meetings and events. 

In 2015, in her first year at Charlottesville High School, she also started the Black Student Union (BSU) to create a space for Black students to come together and build community. The BSU soon organized to create change in the local high school. Importantly, the group was concerned about the racial disparities in the student groups enrolled in advanced placement (AP) and honors courses. Zyahna, who was enrolled in several AP courses, saw very few Black students who looked like her. The BSU organized a walkout and list of demands for several initiatives including that the school district diversify AP and honors courses and hire more Black teachers.

In the spring of 2016, Bryant, then 15, continued her work for racial justice when she wrote a petition calling for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue and the renaming of the park, formerly known as Robert E. Lee Park, just across from the Downtown Mall. This petition, born from a classroom assignment on “how to make a change” inspired others across the nation and led to the formation of a special council by the city of Charlottesville to deliberate on the statue’s removal. The  proposed action was eventually approved by vote and would precede the fatal clash between white supremacists and counter protesters between August 11th and 12th of 2017.

Before Activism: Growing Up in Charlottesville

In some ways, Zyahna’s experiences growing up did not seem like they would have led her down a path of student activism and community organizing for racial justice. Her family, she says, was like a lot of Southern Black families when it came to conversations about race and racism: they cautioned her “not to do too much” and to be careful about going into spaces where she might be the only Black person. 

Like many African Americans in the South, Zyahna grew up in the church and was very active at Mount Zion First African Baptist Church, a predominantly Black church, where on Sundays she rarely saw white people in the congregation. In her words, Mt. Zion was a place “where Black people found community.” However, while most of her neighborhood friends attended Charlottesville public schools, for several years Zyahna attended St Anne’s-Belfield School, a prestigious, independent boarding and day school serving pre-K through grade 12. At St. Anne’s-Belfield, most of her peers were white and rich and she found it difficult to authentically connect with them. In her words, her home and school life simply “didn’t mix.” 

Moreover, despite her academic prowess, Zyahna also describes having other difficulties at St. Anne’s-Belfield. Specifically, she shared how she got suspended a lot and the school tried to push her out. Zyahna’s “push out” experiences mirror those of other Black girls across the United States who experience disproportionate rates of school discipline, resulting for some in school dropout and interactions with the justice system.

Developing a Critical Perspective

Zyahna credits this policing of her voice as a Black girl as one reason why she may have developed a sharp critical perspective at such a young age. She shared that while growing up, people frequently didn’t see things the way she would, causing her to have to advocate for herself. Moreover, being in a space where she was being socialized around white people made her more aware of the anti-Black messages perpetuated in society. 

As her social analysis sharpened, she also became increasingly aware of how colorism intersected with her experiences as a Black girl. She began to notice how most girls in her honors courses were biracial, and women in Black church leadership roles were mostly light-skinned, and how teachers tended to treat darker-skinned girls differently than girls with a lighter complexion. Her observation is supported by research that has found that darker-skinned girls are more likely to receive out-of-school suspensions than lighter skinned girls. 

While her work continues to be rooted in racial and educational justice, Zyahna has also focused her activism on issues pertaining to Black women and queer and trans people. She said she underwent a second awakening in 12th grade, when had personal experience with how Black women are often marginalized in the racial justice movement. For example, when research Zyahna led made it to Capitol Hill, she was miscredited and given a lesser role than what she merited.

As a result of this focus, during the pandemic, she engaged in several initiatives for Black women and girls such as mutual aid organizing, takeovers with Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes, and virtual panels. She is especially passionate about lifting up Black women’s organizing practice and strategizing. She shared, “We hear a lot of emotional accounts of Black women’s contribution but not a lot of discussion of their contribution to strategy like Latosha Brown.” Latosha Brown founded Black Voters Matter, an organization that has led to significant voter turnout in recent elections in Alabama and Georgia state.

Zyahna currently works as a program lead for Black Girls (EM)Power, a part of the Youth Mentoring Action Network based in Upland California. She recently graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor of arts degree in African American and African Studies in the Distinguished Majors Program. In the fall, she will be enrolled in the Bridge to the Doctorate program at University of Virginia. She plans to pursue a doctorate in History. She credits public historians as being critically important to supporting her activism across the years and sees historians as laying the foundation for activism.

 

Categories
Health and Wellness Katrina Spencer Travel

#Blaxit: We’re Not in Kansas Anymore 

a woman stands in a passage way
Devon Davis Kitzo-Creed poses for a photo in Budapest, Hungary.

When I connect with Devon Davis Kitzo-Creed through Zoom, it’s 7:00 p.m. in Central Europe for her and 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the States for me. Devon has immigrated abroad and is pursuing midwifery studies. Yes– the age-old profession of bringing life into the world. Her partner and her four-legged creatures are her companions, and their road has just begun. I want her to share her story with me ‘cause, well, things at home lately are looking a bit bleak.

It was in 2020 when Devon and her partner decided to leave the States for good. You recall the climate: a virus whose threat level we had yet come to know was flooding hospitals with patients; there were several high-profile killings of Black Americans: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd; and protestors were being violently punished for manifesting their discontent. It was in that spirit of the era that Devon set her mind to escape the psychological violence and anxiety we all witnessed domestically.

Since that time, I’m not so certain to what extent we’ve improved. A brief recap of recent years gone by: widespread vaccine skepticism, the fatal January 6th, 2021 insurrection, mass shootings on the rise, book bans… Again, in a word: bleak. Can we blame anyone for wanting to leave? 

I wondered if Devon had a long history of international travel that made making these bold decisions easier. Her parents’ roots are on the east coast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New Rochelle, New York. She tells me that within her family there are many “resort travelers”– the type that take languid vacations that offer massages, facials, and fruity drinks on tropical beaches. The Bahamas, for example, was a place that Devon had known for days at a time, but she had not made it to a new continent. For Devon, a brief and sunny jaunt to the Caribbean is now yesterday’s news. Today she’s away for months and years at a time. Instead of bar service on the sands and working on a tan, she’s dragging luggage upstairs in buildings with no elevators, researching leases, navigating language barriers, and making sure her pets get the right immunizations to cross the same borders that she does.  

Devon’s first stop out of the United States was Ecuador, a South American country named after the equator and known for its Indigenous population, the Andes Mountains, Charles Darwin’s writings on evolution from the Galápagos Islands, brilliantly colored textiles, and coca leaves. She teaches me that Ecuador is a popular destination for people from the U.S. that want to relocate permanently and about the country’s rich biodiversity, mentioning cows that roam freely on its beaches. She’s effusive with her praise in sharing how much she loved living there. It reaffirmed a focus on community orientation and taught her to slow down, reducing the sense of urgency associated with the insistent, breakneck speed of capitalism. “It was everything I didn’t know I needed,” she says, and she would not have left had she not been seeking a chance to further her educational opportunities.

a wedding poses for a silly photo
Devon Davis Kitzo-Creed (center) and her wedding party pose for a silly wedding photo in Italy.

Devon worked in the United States as a birth & postpartum doula and childbirth educator for five years before leaving the States and tells me that at the time of her departure, business was “booming.” Safety surrounding Black people giving birth remains shamefully and statistically dangerous and Devon has been one of a chosen few who has stepped into the gap to turn that tide. Her search for an English-language program that would expand her clinical knowledge in her field next led her to Hungary. She crossed the Atlantic and made for the land of goulash, Houdini, and Dracula. If there was any culture shock, it came in the form of Devon’s realization that a diverse populace– something Hungary would not offer– was high on her list of priorities. She has had a few encounters there that have made her feel less than welcome like getting kicked off a train and turned away from a beauty technician as a new client. These moments have proven that xenophobia, the fear of the other, is real, despite the fact that Europe is continually a site of multicultural contact, a phenomenon that will only increase the deeper we delve into the 21st century. Europe’s legacies of colonialism have hastened immigration patterns from the Global South; its low domestic natality rates create the economic need of the “Other”; and globalization, which is moving at breakneck speed, refuses to slow down. Devon’s presence in Europe, and the presence of people who look like her, therefore, herald a path of no return.

Demonstrating the resilience that Black women, willingly or not, have come to be known for, Devon has taken to social media to educate others who may want to follow a similar path. She came to me first via my TikTok feed from the @devon_dkc handle and spoke about what it means to be a Black American living elsewhere. She can tell her audience about the variety of visas available to folks traveling abroad: tourist, student, family reunification, and more. She speaks carefully about the connotations of terms like “immigrant” vs. “expatriate.” And she provides reviews of avant garde fine dining restaurants found in Budapest. With Devon, there’s no want of adventure, discovery, and novelty. I was therefore 0% surprised and 100% delighted to find out about her Spotify podcast Fat Girls Traveling, which she co-hosts with Annette Richmond, another Black woman traveler who is based in Mexico. It is once again representative of what I admire most about her: she places no limitations on what she can do, where she can be, or how she’ll tell the story of her lived experiences. The title of the podcast gives a lot of information away: it consists of conversations in which women living in bodies outside of the conventional, Western beauty norm seize opportunities and lifestyles often and popularly afforded and ascribed to people who are slim and slight of frame. She, wittingly or not, is teaching others, too, to be boundless.

I knew the answer to my last question for Devon before I asked it: “Do you suspect this is your final stop?” Negative. Hardly. She’ll complete her midwifery studies in England and there’s no telling where she’ll end up next. Together we’re just glad to be along for the ride.