We Are Not Strangers Here by Ravi Howard
Key Takeaways
“In southern woodlands grew both emancipation oaks and hanging trees.” [archivist interpretation] → When we face our pain, we may find our freedom. Nature is a neutral player nurtured at the hands of humanity. Does it serve us to willingly relinquish our relationship to this natural power for the trauma we recall? How may this same natural power heal us all?
“At some point the terms urban and black became interchangeable. Such terminology would have us believe our history began in cities and that we are a people of concrete and bricks, far removed from the oaks, rivers, and low country.”
Farmhand and horse standing next to a shed, c. 1908. Courtesy: Roberts Family Papers, African American Museum and Library at Oakland.