2024 Youth CAS Summer Program
2024 Summer participants with CAS members
Celebrating the African Spirit (CAS) recognizes the importance of educating others about Poughkeepsie’s history of enslaved Africans and their descendants. This three-week program teaches Poughkeepsie High School Students about these stories, and the voices that have gone unheard in our community.
This program was built for students of the diverse Poughkeepsie community to learn more about where they come from. By the end of this program, participants became grounded in historical research and worked with local historians, graphic designers to develop visual memorials - posters. At the end of the summer program, the posters were displayed at the Frances Lehman Art Center and later on at College Hill Park for Frederick Douglass Day. Click here to find more information on Federick Douglass Day.
Students met in a few community locations, including the Family Partnership Center in downtown Poughkeepsie.
Carollynn is located in the bottom center of this photo
Unfortunately this year, dedicated CAS secretary and Vassar Librarian, Carollynn Costella, passed during the program. She brought passion, energy, and always extended a helping hand to bring CAS’s mission alive and through her work with students. As time goes on, CAS hopes to build upon her great contributions.
This year’s three-week program consisted of:
Local guest speakers, including Poet Gold, Dr. India Barkley, and Jean Hinkley
Presentations by The Dutchess County Historical Society, MASS Design, and other CAS members
Walking tour of Poughkeepsie from slowPOK member and Professor of Urban Studies at CUNY, Kafui Attoh
A NYC trip to see Black historical based art at MoMa and a visit to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Exhibit at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Below are the summer participants words on the inspiration for their visual memorials:
Can We Trust the Law? Noel Dancy
I first thought about doing this poster after I went to an event by an organization named SNUG. This event was held to bring more awareness to gun violence and work to prevent it, as it is a huge issue here in Poughkeepsie. Black Poughkeepsie residents came together to be in community with each other, eat food, and talk about bettering our city. From this event, I thought about another pressing issue: police brutality. I think police brutality needs to be talked about more and addressed, which is why I created this poster. It’s important to learn and know about if you are Black, and important to understand even if you aren’t. Everyone should have the right to liberty, security, and freedom from discrimination.
The book where I found my images is titled 1960 Photographs of Civil Rights Activities. These pictures mainly show Black people protesting and fighting against the police force to defend their rights. That book had a lot of police brutality-related photos. One photo represents Black women being killed by police. Another picture says “we love our people and won't leave until justice is served.” After looking at my poster I hope viewers leave knowing a little bit more about Black resistance to police violence.
Carldene proudly presenting her poster
From Riches to Rags Khianna Kerr
By using a chronological timeline as the theme of my poster, I’m showing how the colonization of Jamaica, over centuries, has left the country with struggles—financial struggles specifically. Jamaica was colonized for almost half a millennium and signs of said colonization are seen in Jamaican society and life today.
The Spanish and the English exploited Jamaica to the point where Jamaicans had nothing and had to rebuild everything they lost to support themselves. Though rebuilding has helped the country greatly, Jamaica is now a popular island amongst tourists, which brings in money, but a lot of areas in Jamaica still live and suffer in poverty. Such poverty has led to emigration from Jamaica to other countries like the U.S., and I am an example of this.
I wanted to highlight how long Jamaica was colonized for and the damage it left, and thought that a chronological timeline was most appropriate. It shows different periods in Jamaican history and how long each period lasted. The process of doing this was nothing hard. I decided on doing the timeline, got some pictures that correlated with what I wanted, and then used information from the Jamaican Embassy, Jamaica Information Service, the National Library of Medicine, and Wikipedia.
Giving more insight on the history of Jamaica with colonization, as this program did with me with more of the history of Poughkeepsie, is what I truly wanted to do. Many Jamaicans populate the Poughkeepsie area, and the information from my poster may give a little understanding of why. People leave Jamaica and go to different places in search of a better life and way of living, away from all the poverty and limited opportunities in Jamaica. That’s what me and my family did, hoping for more.
Curtis with his historical and informative Frederick Douglass poster
Black Neighborhoods White Roads Sonia Rashid
When thinking about approaching this project, I was interested in examining how roadway systems are an extension of redlining. In particular, the East-West Arterial in Poughkeepsie and the ways it has isolated and devastated the residents of the City. I began investigating the building of the arterial and came across a statement issued in July 1966 about the new roadway system by then mayor, Richard W. Mitchell. In his statement, Mitchell detailed the rationale behind building an arterial along Main street and described Poughkeepsie’s “serious traffic movement and congestion.” I began to question whether the objective of building the arterial was to control and mitigate traffic, or rather to further marginalize and sideline communities of color. In creating a new roadway system, commuters and passerbyers can entirely avoid interacting with the community. The City’s central district becomes an island—separated from surrounding areas which in turn exacerbates the racial and social divide between north and south Poughkeepsie. Moreover, the building of the arterial resulted in 400 homes being destroyed, exemplifying the lack of regard and care for the Poughkeepsie City community members.
When designing my poster, I wanted to incorporate newspaper clippings from the Poughkeepsie Journal that include political rhetoric and community opinions about the construction of the arterial. The background of my poster, primarily featuring white opinion, juxtaposed against the message in red “Black Neighborhoods White Roads” comments on the devastation of redlining on the black community. The arterial, though it may seem like another road in Poughkeepsie, represents the immense loss and grief within our community caused by ongoing racist whiteness. Creating my poster has allowed me to reflect more on the community and in engaging with Poughkeepsie’s historical past, I have been able to better understand our Poughkeepsie. I hope that we can continue to think more about Poughkeepsie’s historical past and its implications on our present and collective future.
Shakaria discusses the diversity of the black community should unite, not divide
Say Their Names Mia Thomas
Who do you think of when you think of the Black Lives Matter movement? I personally think of George Floyd, the man who really pushed people to restart protesting, and Breonna Taylor, a woman who was wronged by those who were meant to protect her (along with Floyd). These two significant figures I chose are not the only ones, but the ones that I find are the most popular when thinking of the movement. Their story, along with many other black people/people of color who were wronged by the system came to light with this movement. People of every race and ethnicity came together to fight for what's right. When I think of Black Lives Matter I envision the fist standing for strength and the unity it brought about, which is why I chose to incorporate it into my art piece. Although the fight for black rights is still going on, we are standing strong fighting back together, which is why I chose this topic.
Noel Dancy with his poster at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (congrats to Noel graduating the huge acheviementhigh school a huge achievement for him!)
When Does it End? Carldene Cameron
As I went about creating this piece I aimed to shed light on the deeply troubling issue of racial biases and injustices prevalent in the justice system. Through my art piece, I presented evidence of systemic discrimination faced by black men, who are disproportionately wrongfully convicted for crimes they did not commit.
Creating this art piece involved research from organizations such as the Innocence Project of New Orleans, Equal Justice Initiative, and the Legal Defense Fund. These organizations delve into the harrowing stories of individuals who have been victims of this injustice. I sought to capture the emotional turmoil and resilience of those affected, incorporating their experiences into the visual narrative of the artwork.
Utilizing a combination of symbolism, lack of color, and form, I aimed to evoke a sense of urgency and empathy in the viewer. The piece catalyzes critical reflection, challenging societal perceptions and calling for reevaluating the justice system's approach to racial preferences and wrongful convictions.
Khianna with her poster on the effects of colonization on Jamaica
Frederick Douglass Curtis Murimi
Frederick Douglass–born February, 1818 in Cordova, Maryland–was an African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. While enslaved he wasn't able to receive any form of formal education but instead was taught a few simple words and alphabets by Sophia Auld, the wife to his enslaved Hugh Auld. He later gained his own freedom at the age of 20.
In 1841 Frederick Douglass joined the Abolitionist Movement after moving to New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was involved in many of the meetings, listening to all the people's ideas. He would also be given chances to read his writing pieces and would use his past experiences as an example to many. One of his famous speeches was “What to the Slave is the Fourth Of July?” in 1852.
Having passion for literature and writing, he followed his dreams and Published his first autobiography “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave ,” In May 1845 in Boston. This was one of the important books he published himself. He used this book to show his enslavement life experiences and all the challenges he overcame to get where he was.
The reason I wrote about him is because I feel like he was really inspiring through his actions and writing. He used his own life experiences to show the situation of the nation from the slaves perspective and how they lived. One of his best quotes I like is, “it is easier to build Strong children than to repair broken men.”
Sonia with her poster on the effect of the East-West arterial
Beauty in Every Color Shakaria Sutherland
Creating this piece; it had no name, only an objective. I wanted to address many of the major issues we face in the black community today instead of focusing on past events, not to say that past events are not important. I want to reach out to our current generation so they uplift our future generation because we can’t change the past. We can only learn and be better for the future.
I want this piece to capture the absurdity of colorism along with the many culture differences and diverse black hair within the black community. The poem I've inscribed is meant to awaken the pride within and welcome self love because the things we’re most criticized for are the parts we try to gentrify. Our hair, for one: it can’t be too short or you're considered bald headed; if it’s not done, cover it but not with a bonnet that's ghetto; you also can’t leave it out either, it’ll be seen as unprofessional and nappy. I want my community to know it’s okay to get back to our roots, it's okay to be ourselves, it’s okay to wear our hair and our skin.
In the black community today, black people have split themselves into three different groups; lightskin, darkskin, brownskin. The problem isn’t the skin tones, it's the idea that separating yourself from “being black” and insinuating that lighter skin is the only type of beauty within our community helps drive a wedge between us and leave room for slander and mockery, not just within our community but outside as well. My quote, “We are the same the only difference is our name” reiterates the idea that we’re all black and the only difference is our name because they see us all the same.
Mia describes her thoughts on the Black Lives Matter Movement