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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FdVISgwuu9J3p64Eib-Xv7ZzFyj7hZc7_h09HBeOSLg/edit?usp=sharing

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Collaboration with the Berean Baptist Church music ministry

On Monday, April 14th Malena and Emily had a meeting with Trevor, Marsha and Rose of the Berean Baptist Church. We discussed the vision and logistic of the event. We’re happy that the a choir from the church will sing on May 11th and be part of the celebration of the past and the present of the Weeksville community.

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Let’s recreate these decorations and this spirit of celebration on May 11th at Weeksville!

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Games for the party at Weeksville on May 11th!

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History of the Berean Baptist Church and its building (brownstoner.com)

On August 11th, 1850, a group of Brooklyn abolitionists got together to found a great experiment; a fully integrated Baptist church congregation. Many of Brooklyn’s churches were nominally integrated, that is black people could attend many white churches. The black congregants were usually relegated to the back pews or the balcony, and did not participate in the social and fellowship activities of the church. They certainly did not become deacons or trustees, choir members or ministers. Although many white churches were bastions of anti-slavery activity, and lauded the fact that they hosted speakers like Frederick Douglass, and other black anti-slavery heroes, it was a fact of life that true social equality was a long time in coming, even in God’s house.

This new church was called Berean Baptist, and was originally a small wood-framed church in the vicinity of Prospect Place and Utica Avenue, a couple of blocks south of the present location. This part of Brooklyn was still largely unsettled land, except for the growing African American communities of Weeksville and Carrsville, which were settled by black folks beginning in the late 1830s. These were independent towns where black people could live on their own terms, with their own homes, businesses and institutions.

The land was not graded yet, and the first Berean Baptist Church was literally on a hill. Its first pastor was a white minister named Daniel Resse. The congregation was very much united in their anti-slavery cause, and this little church was a way station on the Underground Railroad. But the location was hard to get to for most of the white members, and the hill too steep, so the great experiment ended as most of the white congregants joined together to found a separate church on Herkimer Street.

Berean Baptist continued here until the church became too small and run down. By this time, the 1880s, Weeksville was at the eastern edge of Bedford; their isolated existence about to end forever. The Brooklyn Eagle referred to the old church as “a Negro church in a shabby looking white frame building.” It was time to build something better. Money was raised, and a plot was purchased on Bergen Street, between Utica and Rochester Avenues, still in the town of Weeksville.

Architect Benjamin Wright was commissioned to design the church. I wasn’t able to find out anything about him. I don’t know if he was white or black, either. The English Gothic style church was built for $7,400, and was dedicated in 1894. It was constructed by both members and professional builders, and is the first church, and perhaps the first building of any kind in New York City, to be built from the foundation up, entirely by African Americans. In 1914, two more wings were added, one on either side of the main building.

A Colonial Revival style parsonage was built next door in the 1920s. Berean continued to grow adding many different programs to its roster, in addition to religious services. It continued to be one of the most influential black churches in Brooklyn, and was a great support to the community during the Great Depression, serving meals and providing clothing and services. As the area’s population became more African American, Berean was one of the few historic Brooklyn black churches to already be in Bedford Stuyvesant. Many of the other large churches, such as Concord Baptist, Bridge Street AWME, Siloam Presbyterian and others, were transplanted in Bedford from their origins in Downtown Brooklyn.

In 1961, Berean decided that the old church was no longer large enough for their needs. Fortunately, they had the wisdom to not tear it down, but build a new church next door, and use the old church as a fellowship hall. The church lost its left side wing, but nothing more. The new church cost a quarter of a million dollars, but the church worked hard to pay off the mortgage, which it did in 1975. By this time, the church was sponsoring several mission churches, and decided to officially change the name to Berean Missionary Baptist Church.

Today, the church is now considered to be in Crown Heights, not Bedford Stuyvyesant, but that hasn’t changed anything else. Berean Missionary Baptist Church is 164 years old. The church now sponsors missionaries abroad; in Africa and other countries, and locally, has many programs for youth services, housing, crime prevention, food pantries, and other badly needed social programs. An institution founded by those seeking to worship together, end slavery and seek African American self-determination is still at it, and Still going strong.

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Flyer drafts for the performance!

Tentatively:

3PM: Invitation to families and the community to help decorate the space 5PM: Skill Share 7PM: A taste of Weeksville 8PM: Experience the sound and video exhibition in the Historic House

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Sunday, April 13th

Today Malena visited the Historic Berean Baptist Church, that is very much part of the history of Weeksville. She joined the Palm Sunday service and was deeply moved by the music, the sermon and the congregation. This is a very powerful community! We’re looking forward to find ways to collaborate with their members as part of our project at Weeksville!

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Today 3/15/19

Today 3/15 Malena, Chanan, and myself (Emily) met with Zenzele, Obden, and Julia to discuss needs and options and means of researching our project. Julia and Obden had prepared an extensive and thorough presentation of the research materials and means available to us at the center and more widely in Brooklyn and NYC. Then we asked a few questions - what was the target audience? Was there something we could do to support any grant applications they were preparing or looking to prepare? Were there folks we could reach out to already who might be interested in participating or collaborating on a project? They mentioned millennials as a (relatively) underrepresented audience, suggested that our documenting our process might help with grants, and gave us a few contacts we might pursue - a baptist church in the area and Michael Gains, the president of the Tenants Association at Kingsboro houses who also works with the senior homes across the street.

Then we explained a few ideas we had had - an ongoing gallery of local artists with a skill share, projections inside of the house, sound design in the place, and the idea of the GPS map/walking tour. We were leaning toward doing something in the space of the historic houses then also something outside on the "stoop" of the newest house that faces the Kingsboro Houses.

We then had the opportunity to go out and look at the stoop and at the outdoor space available to us on May 11. Seeing the expanse of the house's siding in the back was totally inspirational - all I can see still is the whole space of the two floor building filled with projections that bridge the gap somehow between past and present. Perhaps an old scene with live streaming over top. Perhaps something totally different - research will tell. This space is visible from the Kingsboro houses across the street and is the opportunity I at least was hoping for to present something huge and eye catching and beautiful and inviting to the residents who live right across the street. We became entranced by the steps of the home and as we walked in, I could hear Malena falling in love with the house and the possibilities in terms of projection and sound design for bringing the home to life. I took extensive photographs that I'm very excited to look through in a minute - I was particularly struck by the image of the curtains and of the Kingsboro houses through the old windows of the house. It was mentioned that there is a previous resident of the home who might be able to talk with us, and this possibility seems the first route to pursue, as we're hoping to create something immediate and present in the old home.

As we were talking, Malena made a joke about H&M and about how folks nowadays don't know how to mend clothes. Obden mentioned that he was interested in doing skill work where people could learn how to sew or something - and this made me remember the element of the artist-sourced program I had liked earlier - the skill share.

So at this moment, our dream is to project onto the siding of the house to entice folks to come investigate the space, and to create an interactive projection and sound installation in the house that could stand for several days, all the while with a party going on outside on the grass where we would serve food and facilitate skill shares on some topic that allowed participants to take a physical thing home with them. We have ideas surrounding a dress that are still in the works, but perhaps we pre-film and project actors all wearing the same dress, and at the top floor of the house the dress presently exists, perhaps blowing a little on the power of an arduino?

We want to maybe depict the lost women, the “un-notable” women of the society, but are cognizant of the effects of depicting women doing “women’s work” - it’s ideas that need researching more and thinking more...

A tall order. But perhaps not beyond reach.

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Lunch fun after the 3/15 visit :)

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More photos of the March 15th visit

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March, 15th visit to Weeksville - getting inspired!

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Recreating - Reconstructing

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We’re attached

We’re part of an Heritage - Tradition - Legacy

We’re not loose. We’re attached to an ancestry that gives us value, meaning and perspective. We’re relevant, we’re ‘historical’.

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Tradition: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction.

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The Lighthouse

One of the ideas we’re playing with is creating a walking tour that, as you wandered streets and sites in the surrounding community, would tell stories from people who’ve experienced the places. 

It might be that we can arrange it so that audio plays automatically as you enter different pre-determined areas (like in the boxed areas above - though these are totally arbitrary and would not end up being the delineations for the project if it moved forward). We could possibly use a Google Maps-like GPS system that would work so long as folks have access to a smart phone and have “location” enabled.

It could also be something more along the lines of a Twine game, though, which still requires a smart phone but not location data, where you are able to click through different options and hear the audio according to your manual input choices. 

My impulse with this potential piece of the project is to create an all-paths-lead-to-Weeksville sort of nexus for whatever main event we want to create, or in other words to cast the center as a kind of lighthouse around which swells a proud community. The idea still needs a lot of work, but I think there is a lot of potential. Maybe we could also offer a one-choice-path walking tour via mp3 that folks could download at the center and then play via whatever media player they want, which would be more along the lines of a traditional walking tour but might be a way to be more broadly accessible... But in any of the ways it might happen, I would want for it to be a lasting piece of work that could stand far after the event itself is over if desired. 

I guess the main thing is that I feel drawn to the place, and I would love to create some sort of interactive narration/game that would help others feel drawn in as well. 

-Emily