INDIGO YARD GALS

INDIGO TENT:
Caroline and Jim, More than a Silhouette

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"Indigo Tent:  Caroline and Jim, More than a Silhouette" at Duke Homestead, Durham NC
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Duke Dance Professor Ava LaVonne Vinesett and multidisciplinary artist-scholar and co-founder of Indigo Yard Gals Jessica Almy-Pagán invite you to witness an act of remembrance, recovery, reclamation, and re-consecration. Join us for a “truth telling” of Stories We Should Know, with North Carolina Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green; Mentor, Advocate, and former Chief Operating Officer of Discover Durham, E’Vonne Coleman; and Historian and Assistant Site Manager at Stagville Plantation, Khadija McNair.
11- or 12-year-old Caroline, separated from her mother and sister, was enslaved by Washington Duke for several years. At Duke Homestead, Washington Duke was known to have leased the labor of an enslaved man named Jim. Duke students and members of the Durham community collaborate with Indigo Yard Gals on the grounds of Duke Homestead, gathering to reflect and recalibrate as we restore and re-inscribe the legacies of Caroline and Jim.
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Picture
photo by Alec Himwich
Picture
photo by Alec Himwich
Picture
photo by Alec Himwich
Picture
photo by Alec Himwich

Program

9:00   Registration table inside parking lot
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9:15    Program opening: Procession (artists/all guests) and Welcome  
            Land acknowledgement(Jess) 
            Mo juba & Libation (Ava- I give praise)   

9:45     Khadija McNair presentation and Walk the Land
 
10:45   Voices from the Elders 
             E’Vonne Coleman 
             Jaki Shelton Green 
             Soloist CC Croxton  

11:00   Break 

11:20   Intro to stations 
             Stitching the Course of Local Rivers 
             Transforming Heirloom Linens Into Prayer Flags 
             Inscribing Unearthed Histories Into Place 

12:30   Lunch (Full-day participants/performing crew)

1:15      Rotate stations  

2:30    Tree bundles/gather items created 
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3:15    Closing remarks/future events  


Credits

Concept: 
Ava LaVonne Vinesett & Jessica Almy-Pagán 

Research Assistant
Brooks Emanuel
 
Image courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina 
 
Installation 
Jessica Almy-Pagán 
Cici Stevens 

Voices of the Elders 
E’Vonne Coleman 
Jaki Shelton Green 
Khadija McNair 

Choreographer 
Ava LaVonne Vinesett 
 
Musicians 
Beverly Botsford 
Khalid A. N. Saleem 
Richard J. Vinesett 
Domingo B. Vinesett
Chris Kannenberg
 
Dancers 
Janice Clark 
Chanelle C.C. Croxton (soloist/IYG) 
Lee Edwards
Bonita Joyce 
Najla McClain (IYG) 
Ife Presswood 
Tatiana Reynolds 
Tria Smothers (IYG) 
Oesa SaVionne Vinesett  (IYG)
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Photographer 
Alec Himwich Photography 
 
Videographer 
Domingo B. Vinesett 

Website Support 
Juliet Irving  

Nourishment for Full-day participants
Chef Shawn Holland and Sophisticated Catering

Customized Shirts and Hoodies
Tiffany Johnson
Browncustomss
 
Primary sponsor: Duke Dance Program with a special thank you to Jenise Taylor, Andrea E. Woods-Valdés, and Margo Lakin
 
Co-sponsors: Duke University Arts & Sciences Council on Faculty Research; N.C. Division of State Historic Sites with a special thank you to Michelle Lanier, Afro-Carolinian folklorist, and Director of NCDSHS; Duke Homestead; Durham Arts Council Emerging Artists; Delores Farmer; Indigo Yard Gals; and salt mark studios

Stories We Should Know

Reinterpreting the Foundation of Lincoln Hospital: Race, Power, Philanthropy, and Public History in Durham, North Carolina by Khadija V. McNair

Life Histories of Caroline Brown Barnes (b. Abt 1844-d.1924) by Huiyin Zhou 
 
Interpreting Historic Site Narratives: Duke Homestead on Tour by Rachel Crockett Kirby 
 
Complicating the Narrative: Using Jim's Story to Interpret Enslavement, Leasing, and Resistance at Duke Homestead by Jennifer Melton 

Indigo Tents offer a participatory component of the multi-pronged, multi-year Living Memorials series of site-responsive "public rituals" acknowledging and re-consecrating several race-based sites of brutality in North Carolina. These public gatherings include workshops, "truth telling", and serve as pilots for ongoing portable installations. Encompassing movement, sound, song, and visual structures, Indigo Tents build on local and regional public histories ​with keen attention to who and what is absent or under-represented in narratives of our community. All members of the public are invited and encouraged to participate in the unfolding of these intimate gestures of care and connection. 
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As creatives committed to site-responsive dialogues and concrete initiatives to counter such erasures, we thank you for your sharing in Indigo Tent @ Duke Homestead:  Living Memorials 2022. 

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  • Our Story
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    • Indigo Tents
    • Preparing Grounds
    • Enter the Yard
    • Go-To-Water
    • reSEARCH TRIPS
  • Get in Touch