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Traveling Exhibits Overview  The Palmer Memorial Institute  The Youngest Parents Oh Freedom Over Me  Exhibition Highlights Former African American Preparatory School in Sedalia, North Carolina The Palmer Memorial Institute, a traveling exhibition of documentary photographs and audio from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, premiered at the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum in Sedalia, North Carolina, in March–April 2005, and is now available for presentation in other venues. The Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum is located on the site of the former Palmer Memorial Institute, an African American preparatory school attended by more than 1,000 students from 1902 until it closed in 1971. The exhibition includes black-and-white photographs of student life at Palmer Memorial Institute, circa 1947, by Griff Davis, an accomplished African American photojournalist whose work appeared in the New York Times, Atlanta Daily World, Ebony, Time, Fortune, Negro Digest, and Davis's work visually depicts an often-neglected piece of American history — that of middle- and upper-middle-class African Americans. The exhibit also includes Davis's 1947 Ebony magazine spread on PMI, text panels, and an audio documentary including interviews with Palmer Memorial Institute graduates. The exhibition provides the opportunity for dialogue about segregation in education, black women's leadership and business development, the complexity of economic and educational standing of African Americans in the South during the Jim Crow era, and educational institutions' roles in developing strategies for economic success for African Americans, among other topics. "We're pleased to launch CDS Traveling Exhibitions with the Palmer Memorial Institute exhibit, which helps to share an important part of North Carolina's history and current perspectives on African American education and community," says Tom Rankin, director of the Center for Documentary Studies. "The photographs and recent oral histories capturing experiences of former Palmer students, presented on the site where they once gathered for their education, encourage us to engage with documentary work in an active way to better understand life and culture today." 
Charlotte Hawkins Brown (1883–1961), born in Henderson, North Carolina, and raised and educated in Massachusetts, named the Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial Institute (PMI) in Sedalia, near Greensboro, after her mentor and benefactor, the second woman president of Wellesley College. Brown's reputation grew nationally as she raised funds to expand campus facilities and worked to strengthen PMI's artistic and scholarly offerings, and through her efforts, the school evolved from an agricultural and manual training facility to a fully accredited, nationally recognized African American preparatory school. In 1987 the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum opened on the PMI grounds, North Carolina's first African American state historic site. ORAL HISTORY WORKSHOP An oral history workshop can be scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition. Participants will learn the basics of conducting an oral history interview, discuss historical and social issues involved in interviewing, and get an overview of sound quality considerations, ethics of documentary practice, and tips for preservation. This exhibition was organized by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University from the Griffith Davis Collection, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. The exhibition and related workshop are part of the traveling exhibitions program of the Center for Documentary Studies. Funding for this project was provided by the North Carolina Humanities Council, a state-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by the North Carolina Arts Council, with funding from the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art. Additional assistance was provided by the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation Inc. at the Hayti Heritage Center. EXHIBITION SCHEDULE March 13–April 30, 2005 Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, Sedalia, North Carolina October 16–December 13, 2006 Auburn Avenue Research Library, Atlanta, Georgia February 11–April 15, 2007 Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, North Carolina Oral History Workshop led by Liz Lindsey of the Center for Documentary Studies held on February 17. January 30, 2009–March 13, 2009 The Bay County Public Library, Panama City, Florida HOSTING THE PALMER MEMORIAL INSTITUTE EXHIBITION For more information about hosting a CDS Traveling Exhibition, please contact Liz Lindsey at 919-660-3663 or liz.lindsey@duke.edu.
banner image: Partial view of the Lyndhurst Gallery, one of four exhibition spaces at CDS. Photograph by Christopher Sims. top |
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