WHAT IS THE HAYTI PROJECT?

The Hayti Project, Hayti: The Legacy of Black America, a documentary film, is an interpretation of the remarkable history of Durham, North Carolina’s Black Experience. The Hayti Project is also an initiative founded by The Cultural Heritage Group, to encourage our next generation to explore and embrace their history.

HAYTI: THE LEGACY OF BLACK AMERICA

A Documentary Film

The true nature and dimensions of the African American experience in Durham is fascinating and full of opportunities for discovery and the benefits from exploring this rich history and culture can offer great insight into what the Legacy of Black America really means not only for African Americans but for everyone in this country.

Key events played out in Durham’s Black community the city’s first 100 years helped shape the character structure of other American cities.  The Black Durham experience provided an example of enterprise and self-determination like no other city in America. “Separate but equal”, Durham’s Black community represented an economic, social, political and educational strength that in other cities was only available to the White community. Significant contributions made by African Americans in labor, culture, inventions, military service, social reform, politics, art, music, sports and more,  have helped make America successful and powerful.

“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.” ~ Joseph Pulitzer

THEN AND NOW: A HAYTI CIVICS COURSE

Beginning February 2, 2012 conduct a workshop at the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. Visit http://www.cdsporch.org/archives/9528 to register.

Then and Now: A Hayti Civics Course, is a unique opportunity for participants to document oral histories and use archival material to produce a series of short documentaries about Durham’s Hayti community, from their own perspective. Hayti was a vibrant African-American section of Durham, North Carolina, that flourished for most of the 20th century. We will explore Hayti’s fascinating, rich history while creating a multimedia portfolio to be displayed on the Hayti Project website. Students will also have an opportunity to contribute to an ongoing project about Hayti, which includes a documentary film.

Hayti was a sanctuary for African Americans traveling from the north throughout the Jim Crow South. It was an oasis of African American culture and business in a hostile society. Today there is very little evidence that Hayti ever existed.

We organized community gatherings at the Hayti Heritage Center, North Carolina Central University and Mount Vernon Baptist Church. The program was well-received and brought a broad range of individuals from the community together and encouraged dialogue about the subject of Hayti’s social and cultural history and its relevancy to the present and future.

Based on comments from responders, the presentation seemed to inspire a renewed commitment to preserving personal history, interest in rekindling the spirit of cooperation that was Hayti and a determination to share that knowledge with the next generation. Since that time we have been asked to participate on diversity panels and screen our film short for corporations, civic organizations, churches and educational institutions. We also have incorporated the film short into to our Black Durham Experience Tour.

This workshop will provide an overview of the process we have followed to develop this film into a compelling documentary; how we researched the story, outlined the ideas, developed a treatment, and introduced subjects. Students will develop short, manageable documentary projects which they will develop and produce for screening and review by the class.

Photo: Fayetteville Street, Durham, 1944. (Courtesy of Durham County Library, NC Collection)