ITS-IN-SCOPE

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A collection of subjective research that provides context for contemporary studies — this mix of ancestral and intuitive documentation is curated communally in support of figuring it out together.

We Are Not Strangers Here by Ravi Howard

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“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.

Reference Text: ‘Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry’ edited by Camille T. Dungy