abscondedproject - Tumblr blog

[abscondedproject]

“Freedom is heavy. You got to put your shoulder to freedom. Put your shoulder to it and hope your back holds up.” — August Wilson Freedom can require tremendous effort to obtain or regain once it’s been taken away. Freedom should be one of life’s guarantees but at the same time shouldn’t be taken for granted.

[abscondedproject]

[ARCHIVAL] Inaugural Moving Monument Ritual for Ona Maria Judge Staines Unpaid Labor Day Monday, September 7, 2020 12pm - 1:30pm Lower Manhattan (Social distancing expected and implored) WALL STREET: 12pm -- Federal Hall 12:20pm -- NYSE BROADWAY PROMENADES: 12:40 -- NYSE to St. Paul's Chapel 1:00 -- St. Paul's Chapel to African Burial Ground MOVEMENT // SOUND // STILLNESS // SILENCE Ona Judge was enslaved by George & Martha Washington. Ona quietly walked out one evening as they ate dinner. She died a fugitive in poverty for refusing a life of unpaid labor as human property of the very first First Family of the United States. By her account, Ona had NO REGRETS for claiming her liberty. “...I am free, and have, I trust been made a child of God by the means.” ~Ona Maria Judge Staines Forgotten Founding Mother of Liberty 1773-1848 #unpaidlaborday#abscondedproject #unalterednationday #africanburialground #americanhistory #blackhistory #blacklivesmatter #blackwomen #decolonization #federalhall #georgewashington #graceexhibitionspace #lowermanhattan #marthawashington #nevercaught #NYSE #onajudge #OnaNotOney #publicart #reparations #takeitdown #slavery #streetperformance #streettheater #streettheatre #takethemdown #ushistory #wallstreet (at Lower Manhattan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQB9WDgZwn/?igshid=whs5sva6i2tu

[abscondedproject]

[ARCHIVAL] Inaugural Moving Monument Ritual for Ona Maria Judge Staines Unpaid Labor Day Monday, September 7, 2020 12pm - 1:30pm Lower Manhattan (Social distancing expected and implored) WALL STREET: 12pm -- Federal Hall 12:20pm -- NYSE BROADWAY PROMENADES: 12:40 -- NYSE to St. Paul's Chapel 1:00 -- St. Paul's Chapel to African Burial Ground MOVEMENT // SOUND // STILLNESS // SILENCE Ona Judge was enslaved by George & Martha Washington. Ona quietly walked out one evening as they ate dinner. She died a fugitive in poverty for refusing a life of unpaid labor as human property of the very first First Family of the United States. By her account, Ona had NO REGRETS for claiming her liberty. “...I am free, and have, I trust been made a child of God by the means.” ~Ona Maria Judge Staines Forgotten Founding Mother of Liberty 1773-1848 Link in bio for more about Ona’s story and the Absconded Project. #unpaidlaborday#abscondedproject #unalterednationday #africanburialground #americanhistory #blackhistory #blacklivesmatter #blackwomen #decolonization #federalhall #georgewashington #graceexhibitionspace #lowermanhattan #marthawashington #nevercaught #NYSE #onajudge #OnaNotOney #publicart #reparations #takeitdown #slavery #streetperformance #streettheater #streettheatre #takethemdown #ushistory #wallstreet (at Lower Manhattan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQBXEbAZfd/?igshid=1gckja50rl2m

[abscondedproject]

ABSCONDED #EjectionDay2020 was DRAGONFLY’s second iteration of Ona Judge as a living monument.  This procession is a meditation on the perpetual state of fugitivity as freedom for the marooned members of the African Diaspora. This procession also serves as a binding hex to refract and reverse the evil deeds of past and present colonizers and slaveowners lionized in monuments.  As we continue to challenge and remove racist monuments, Ona Maria Judge Staines calls from the beyond to dismantle false mythologies surrounding America’s celebrated tyrants.  The performance was organized and sponsored by the artist and the Hemispheric Institute at New York University, and co-sponsored by Grace Exhibition Space, with Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield (Producer), Sabura Rashid (Director), and Ak Jansen (Costume Design). #ejectionday2020 #abscondedproject #americanhistory #blackhistory #blacklivesmatter #blackwomen #centralpark #christophercolumbus #columbuscircle #decolonization #decolonizethisplace #enslavedwomen #frederickdouglass #georgewashington #hemisphericinstitute #marthawashington #nevercaught #onajudge #OnaNotOney #oneyjudge #publicart #reparations #takeitdown #slavery #streetperformance #streettheater #unalterednationday #takethemdown #ushistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQAJPLAUNf/?igshid=vady7tb03hol

[abscondedproject]

ABSCONDED #EjectionDay2020 was DRAGONFLY’s second iteration of Ona Judge as a living monument.  This procession is a meditation on the perpetual state of fugitivity as freedom for the marooned members of the African Diaspora. This procession also serves as a binding hex to refract and reverse the evil deeds of past and present colonizers and slaveowners lionized in monuments.  As we continue to challenge and remove racist monuments, Ona Maria Judge Staines calls from the beyond to dismantle false mythologies surrounding America’s celebrated tyrants.  The performance was organized and sponsored by the artist and the Hemispheric Institute at New York University, and co-sponsored by Grace Exhibition Space, with Dr. Joy Brooke Fairfield (Producer), Sabura Rashid (Director), and Ak Jansen (Costume Design). #ejectionday2020 #abscondedproject #americanhistory #blackhistory #blacklivesmatter #blackwomen #centralpark #christophercolumbus #columbuscircle #decolonization #decolonizethisplace #enslavedwomen #frederickdouglass #georgewashington #hemisphericinstitute #marthawashington #nevercaught #onajudge #OnaNotOney #oneyjudge #publicart #reparations #takeitdown #slavery #streetperformance #streettheater #unalterednationday #takethemdown #ushistory (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKP_332gRuX/?igshid=1pfnnlb493k8l

[abscondedproject]

The ancestors are restless and inserting their voice through performance and pixels.

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY - I AM:

BESSIE STRINGFIELD FRIDA KAHLO JOSEPHINE BAKER NAWI, THE LAST DAHOMEY AMAZON

[abscondedproject]

Ancestors walk with us in restlessness and relentless intention to tell our stories.

All who desire it--speak YES to #UndergroundReprise so it can be so!

))::Asé::((

OWN:  Oprah Winfrey Network announced today that it has acquired the critically acclaimed historical drama “Underground” to air beginning Tuesday, January 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.  The dramatic series from Sony Pictures Television will have a revitalized presentation on OWN, with newly filmed episodic introductions by cast members, never-before-seen behind the scenes footage and more.

Ummmm … I never thought this day would come. I am actually really shocked. Maybe this will lead to it being reprised one day. 

The Series Summary: In 1857, a restless slave named Noah organizes a small team of fellow slaves on the Macon plantation outside Atlanta, and puts together a plan to run for their lives — 600 dangerous miles North — to freedom. The odds of success are slim; the path to freedom’s terrain is unforgiving, and Tom, their politically ambitious owner will surely kill anyone attempting to run. For those who make it off the plantation, the risks and uncertainties multiply. They leave family behind to pay for their sins, as they face danger and death at every turn. They’re aided along the way by an abolitionist couple in Ohio, new to running a station on the Underground, unprepared for the havoc it will wreak with their personal lives, while they evade a ruthless slave catcher hell-bent on bringing them back, dead or alive.

[abscondedproject]

New York City has a habit of sequestering Black communities into areas considered undesirable--until the land is wanted back and we are once again forced to relocate to the next undesired place. This pattern includes the displacement of the dead, as evidenced with the African Burial Grounds throughout Manhattan and the meager relocation of a few tombstones to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.

[abscondedproject]

Keaney researched how to get a new historical marker installed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, but it would cost nearly $2,000 and would need to be approved by Farmville officials.

That led to a classroom discussion about “how money and power influence whose story gets told,” Keaney said.

She later learned about the Virginia Black history contest started last February by Chief Diversity Officer Janice Underwood. Her students nominated 16-year-old Barbara Johns, who led her peers on a strike in 1951 for equal education at their high school in Farmville.

The 10 Black Virginians whose stories will be told on the new historical markers, and the future location of each marker, are:

Angela (a slave with no last name), Jamestown

Evelyn Butts, Norfolk

William H. Carney, Norfolk

Barbara Johns, Farmville

Katherine Johnson, Hampton

Ona Judge, Mount Vernon

Gowan Pamphlet, Williamsburg

Maggie Lena Walker, Richmond

Wyatt T. Walker, Chester/Petersburg

Camilla Ella Williams, Danville