Featuring presentations by Dr. Dena Jennings and Michael Carter, Jr., the Juneteenth 2021 program at The Arts Center in Orange focused on the art of storytelling. This program was presented in-person and via simultaneous livestream.
You may have heard the term “griot” before. Griots originated from the West African Mande empire of Mali around the 13th century, and the tradition continues today. Contemporary griots are storytellers, musicians, praise singers, and oral historians for their communities. They provide critical connections to the past through their work, preserving genealogies, historical narratives, and the oral traditions of their people.
It is with this grand tradition in mind that our 2021 Juneteenth program took shape. How does history get remembered, and whose stories are told? What can people in our community tell us about their journeys, and how do they connect with our own? Like the stories told by griots, Dr. Dena Jennings’ and Michael Carter, Jr.’s presentations both focus on unearthing family legacies and the importance of preserving connections with the past.
DR. DENA JENNINGS
Dr. Dena Jennings is many things, including: a doctor and lover of science, an artist who makes and plays gourd-based instruments, and a human rights advocate. Dr. Jennings is also a member of the Board of Directors at The Arts Center in Orange, Executive Director of ImaniWorks, and is incredibly active in the Orange, VA community.
Interested in her own family history, Jennings visited Camp Nelson (near Lexington, KY) where her great-great grandfather enlisted in exchange for his freedom. For Juneteenth 2021, she explores and shares her family history (and her journey to connect with that history) through the song Camp Nelson Blues.
MICHAEL CARTER, JR.
Michael Carter Jr. is an 11th generation farmer in the United States and is the 5th generation to farm on Carter Farms, his family’s century farm in Orange County, Virginia where he gives workshops on how to grow and market ethnic vegetables. With Virginia State University, he works in the capacity of the Small Farm Resource Center Coordinator for the Small Farm Outreach Program. He sits on the board of directors of the Virginia Association of Biological Farmers (VABF) and Virginia Foodshed Capital. Michael was recognized as a 2020 Audubon Naturalist Society Taking Nature Black Regional Environmental Champion, and the 2020 VSU Small Farm Outreach Agent of the year. He acquired an agricultural economics degree from North Carolina A&T State University and has worked in Ghana, Kenya and Israel as an agronomist and organic agricultural consultant. Michael presently consults with numerous governments, organizations, and individuals throughout the region and nation on food access, food security/insecurity, market outreach, social and economic parity/equity/evaluation programs, racial understanding, immersion, history and cultural trainings, among other areas. Carter Farms has birthed Hen Asem (Our Story) and Africulture, the 501(c)3 arm of Carter Farms that teaches, shares, and expounds on the contributions of Africans and African Americans to agriculture worldwide and the many stories that history almost forgot.
Orange, Virginia’s annual celebration of Juneteenth is presented in partnership with The Orange County African American Historical Society and James Madison’s Montpelier. Visit the OCAAHS Juneteenth website to learn more about the annual Juneteenth celebration in Orange!
