Spring 2019
A Collaboration
Together, students from the University of Richmond and the Armstrong Leadership program created a documentary theatre experience based on archival materials and interviews about what it was like in Richmond during the Civil Rights Movement. The event was made in conjunction with the Growing Up in Civil Rights Richmond exhibition and aims to spark conversation about Richmond’s youth activists of yesterday and today.
Project Details
“Then I got to school...but it’s tough, it’s hard. It’s hard to focus, it’s hard to concentrate. You’re trying to not only fit in with your peers but you’re trying to fit in with peers that are from a totally different world than you are.”
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Exhibition &Interviews
For the exhibition, 30 Richmond residents, ranging in age from fifty-something to eighty-something, shared their memories with Laura Browder of growing up in Richmond during the civil rights era. Brian Palmer created large-scale color photographic portraits for the exhibition.
The idea for the exhibition came from our 2012 group interview with Wythe High School students, both black and white, who had attended high school during the busing era, and had radically different experiences from one another. What was striking about those profiled in the exhibition was the extent to which many had remained lifelong activists.
Audio Interviews —
Click on the video above to learn more about our work with Armstrong Leadership Program.
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Collaboration
In response to the Harnett Museum oral history and photography exhibition Growing Up in Civil Rights Richmond: A Community Remembers, students from the University of Richmond and the Armstrong Leadership Program created a docudrama focused on Richmond youth activism, then and now. Armstrong alums from the class of 1966 met with ALP students and UR students to share stories about participating in marches, joining the NAACP youth council, and meeting civil rights leaders during their middle school and high school years.
To embody the resistance of the activists featured in the exhibition, we collaborated with dance professor Alicia Díaz and founder and artistic director of Clave Unidos, Kevin Lamar, who conducted a series of Afro-diasporic movement workshops throughout the semester with UR and ALP students.
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Writing
Our students worked with archival materials and read oral history transcripts from project participants. ALP students wrote about their experiences as high school students and as emerging young activists. Drawing from the conversations with ALP students and Armstrong alums, our students created a docudrama, which was performed by them, ALP students, and Reverend Josine Osborne.
Students warming up for their performance at the University of Richmond.
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Docudrama
The docudrama Civil Rights Richmond: Then and Now, directed by José Joaquin Garcia, was performed at the Harnett Museum on April 9, 2019. Actors included UR students, ALP students, and Armstrong alum and exhibition participant Josine Osborne. The docudrama included movement pieces by Alicia Diaz’s choreography students, focused on the experiences of Black Americans growing up in Richmond. Bomba drummer Hector “Coco” Barez provided accompaniment for the performance.
“Civil Rights Richmond: Now & Then” Docudrama Poster.
