Centre students play key role in “We Were Here” exhibition

当人类学和社会学的学生们帮助丹维尔博伊尔县非裔美国人历史学会获取和编辑口述历史时，他们了解到收集数据是多么全面.

Now, 这些口述历史在诺顿艺术bwin体育(Norton Center for the Arts)大厅举办的“我们曾在这里”(We Were Here)展览的监听站中发挥了关键作用.

“’We Were Here’: The African American Experience in Boyle County，最初是一个以社区为基础的学习伙伴关系，后来发展成为诺顿bwin体育的一个大型多媒体装置, which will tell its story for the entirety of the 2022-23 school year. 口述历史用他们自己的语言叙述了20世纪中期生活在丹维尔和博伊尔县的非裔美国人的经历, 当多个城市更新项目和学校废除种族隔离永远地改变了社区.

25岁的丹维尔人伊森·斯科特说，他的家族在社区的历史让他对这个项目有了独特的看法.

“My grandparents have lived in Danville since the 60s or 70s. That was prime time for these urban renewal efforts,” Scott said. “I’ve asked my parents who grew up here, 他们认为这是一个改善城市基础设施的项目. 对他们来说，这并不是一个社区的完全迁移和分裂. For me, that was powerful. 这本身就说明了一个故事，人们是如何选择记住丹维尔的历史的.”

Three years ago, at the Soul of Second Street Festival, bwin体育人类学客座助理教授Jeffrey Shenton会见了Michael Hughes, 丹维尔-博伊尔县非裔美国人历史学会会长. 协会每年都会举办这个节日来庆祝丹维尔的黑人历史. 随后，申顿和休斯合作，让更多的bwin体育学生了解这段历史. 这种合作关系的最初成果之一是培养学生收集口述历史的想法, 这是历史学会多年来一直想要大规模开展的工作.

“In ANT 110, we talk about ‘transcripts of history,或者不同的人群是如何创造他们自己对有意义的地方的叙述的. 《bwin体育》的故事是用阁楼里的盒子拼凑起来的, people’s half-memories,” Shenton said. “It’s a reflection of something that was untold for so long. We have the public record from the Danville Advocate-Messenger, which is one version of what happened during this time. 但你从阁楼和记忆中看到的版本是完全不同的版本.”

像24岁的克莱尔·埃德伦这样的学生参与了口述历史的收集，这些口述历史有助于讲述那些在城市重建项目中生活的人的故事，这些项目摧毁了丹维尔的一些黑人社区. 埃德伦说，当她意识到城市更新对她所采访的人的影响时，这对她来说是一个激动人心的时刻.

“它让人意识到，一个地方的分裂和破坏不仅仅是破坏了这个物理空间, it destroys the community that is there, the connections, the families that had been built there before,” Edelen said. “我开始从我们采访的人谈论社区的微妙方式中看到这一点. Before the process of urban renewal began, 他们谈论孩子和家庭:孩子可以被邻居告诫, or just go and hop over to someone else’s house for dinner, that sort of thing. (在城市更新之后)，人们转向更单一的家庭体验，而不是社区体验.”

休斯定期与历史学会的学生见面，而申顿的班级则是常客, 休斯还在北第二街的历史bwin体育接待了州长bwin体育计划的学生. in Danville.

休斯向学生们展示了第二街的照片——黑人拥有的商业和社区——到今天的样子, Constitution Square. He said that students are “blown away” by what they see.

休斯说:“我想让人们看看它过去的样子，看看人们是多么喜欢它。. “I think if people see the photos, they can see what Danville was. People are proud of that. Now, people don’t know how the system worked to change Second Street. The system wasn’t considering peoples’ lives and businesses. Through this project, people can see what Danville used to be.”

而中央学院在20世纪中期丹维尔的部分城市更新项目中发挥了作用, it has eagerly supported the “We Were Here” Project, both Shenton and Hughes said. 诺顿bwin体育执行主任史蒂夫·霍夫曼为这次展览开了绿灯并获得了资金, to the college working with him and the Historical Society, the support has been “tremendous.”

“对我来说，人们来到bwin体育校园的一个重要组成部分是观看和体验这个故事,” Edelen said. “在中央大学的校园里看到并面对这种情况，是一种强大的体验. I visited the exhibit with a different class, 以及学生们的反应，他们不知道北侧宿舍建在曾经是黑人社区的街道和土地上. That first visceral reaction, ‘oh I live there.’

“我是通过ANT 110第一次接触到口述历史项目的，”埃德伦继续说道. “我认为这是一段了不起的历史，但我不认为我能在任何方面做出贡献. Entering Dr. Shenton’s Linguistic Anthropology class, being able to be a part of it and talk with those people, that was uniquely amazing.”

The Exhibition is a partnership between the Norton Center, the Danville-Boyle County African American Historical Society, and Centre College’s Program in Anthropology and Sociology. The exhibit is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.