Hayti Reimagined: Partnering for the Future

by Ayanna Albertson

Just shy of 130 years ago, the foundation was laid for St. Joseph AME Church in the Hayti District of Durham, North Carolina. Here, formerly enslaved black men and women created an independent and self-sufficient community that flourished from the 1880s until the 1940s. Urban renewal in the 1950s destroyed much of the Hayti business district, resulting in massive permanent displacement of its thriving community. However, the brick building that stands today, overlooking the very freeway that divided the district, is a powerful testament to black resilience, prosperity, and the importance of preserving the cultural health of blackness across the African diaspora.

Today, the Hayti Heritage Center still holds true to its original design and purpose. Although it is no longer a church, it is still a sanctuary—a place where people of all backgrounds and experiences go to find refuge, to disperse joy, to promote healing, and to cultivate relationships.

Hayti is a legacy. For generations, the Center has served as a welcoming space for local and international activists, artists, and performers including late congressman John L. Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., poet and activists Ruby Dee, author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, singer and songwriter James Brown, as well as countless others.

A community staple for visual and performing arts, Hayti offers a variety of programs and events that promote crosscultural engagement and understanding. African dance and drumming classes as well as historic tours of the Hayti neighborhood have been available to all who desired to partake. Pre-COVID-19, the Center held a variety of in-person festivals, concerts, programs, and competitions throughout the year.

A signature event for 26 years, the Hayti Heritage Film Festival attracts film producers and enthusiasts alike as a means to promote and elevate Southern Black Film. The Center also houses a monthly poetry competition called Jambalaya Soul Slam, also known as the Bull City Slam. Directed by poet,

HAYTI PHOTOS BY EARL BYNUM

artist, and educator Dasan Ahanu, it brings together some of the best local poets in the area to compete for a cash prize and a chance to represent Hayti, and the Durham community at-large, in various regional and national competitions. Since 2007, the Bull City Slam team has made the finals in regional competitions four times, semifinals in national competitions three times, and even brought home two first-place victories in 2010 and 2014. From the Durham Symphony Orchestra’s spring concert, to the North Carolina Jazz Ensemble’s annual holiday concert, Hayti has been known for its quality live programming.

As the pandemic crisis began shifting and even dismantling organizations and businesses across the world, the Center quickly recognized the need to adapt new ways to sustain audiences and most importantly, support artists and the arts. Hayti’s commitment to continuing its role in community impact and development comes as no surprise as it has always been an institution that symbolizes resilience. Robin Emmons, the development manager at Hayti, had faith in the Center’s ability to “quickly pivot online.” “We did what black people have been doing since we were brought to this country,” Ms. Emmons says, “made a way out of no way.” Although the Center has developed a strong financial position under the leadership of Angela Lee, the executive director, this new way of life could not be supported to its greatest potential with the facility’s current resources. In order to efficiently implement new programming, one that could provide high quality virtual experiences, the Center would need to develop and acquire a technological face lift.

No stranger to Hayti, The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has recognized the Center’s contribution to Durham’s cultural enrichment multiple times through grant funding. Ms. Lee proposed “Hayti Reimagined” to the foundation, seeking support to expand current programming, develop new programming, and innovate new programs and operations to provide a more secure and unified system on which Hayti can build into the future. “I am constantly surprised and empowered by the magnitude of Hayti,” Lee says, “and there are so many more stories to share and tell.” Not only would this funding help ensure the organization’s operability and viability, but it would provide immediate financial assistance to get the ball rolling. “The Hayti Heritage Center is an anchor institution in Durham, and the Board of Trustees enthusiastically approved this proposal,” said Mimi O’Brien, the Biddle Foundation’s executive director.

A testament to the growing relationship maintained between Hayti and the Biddle Foundation, the grant was awarded and Hayti quickly began its upgrade process. While some upgrades have yet to begin due to COVID-19, many technical upgrades, integral to the current virtual and future in-person experience, have already been implemented in this historic building.

With funding from the foundation, Hayti has been able to upgrade its A/V and lighting systems, as well as install new monitors in the lobby and refresh furnishings in the performance hall and offices. Angel Dozier, a former volunteer for the Center who now serves as the communications specialist, is excited for the opportunities these upgrades offer. Having been a volunteer at the Film Festival for four consecutive seasons, Dozier quickly became a cheerleader for Hayti. “We have a 60-foot screen,” Dozier says, “this money is already expanding the vision of the festival.”

music every Tuesday to the healthy and thriving legacy of for the entire month relationship-building that already exists. of June. From virtual This year, the Hayti is recognizing the ballet classes to virtual Sankofa, an African symbol that expresses quilting workshops, and reinforces remembering the past to Hayti has truly help build a better future. “We recognize reimagined and re- Sankofa by reflecting on how dynamic Hayti envisioned the capacity has been, and working through the issues, by which they could both good and bad, to move forward and operate and grow. claim the legacy that has always been ours,” At Hayti, the spirit Dozier says. For an institution with so much of creativity is fed. A history, it only seems fitting for the Center direct beneficiary of to prosper while continuing to cultivate the Center’s power and connections in the community and beyond. impact, I’d be remiss In fact, Dozier describes it as “a cultural if I didn’t recognize cannon that distributes so much to all their role in my own people.” Above: A new lighting system and sound booth are installed in the historic performance hall. Inset: The stained glass window depicts Washington Duke, Mary Duke Biddle’s grandfather and patron of the artistic development and success. As an active member of the While the pivot to a virtual reality was quick and unpredictable, the lasting effects of The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation’s original St. Joseph’s A.M.E. Church. Bull City Slam team and contribution will be visible participant in various in Hayti’s infrastructure

While navigating the challenges caused events and programs at the center, I can for generations to by COVID-19 wasn’t easy, the Center still honestly say that Hayti helped me develop come. When asked managed to keep the community engaged and solidify my craft. Within the church about how the public through virtual programming. In April, walls of this historic monument, I found my will react to “Hayti just a few weeks into the pandemic, Hayti ministry and my voice. With the luminance Reimagined’’ once inhad already displayed ingenuity through of 24 stained glass windows behind me, I person programming its virtual program “Piano & A Poet,” in performed in my first poetry slam. is permitted, Emmons celebration of National Poetry and Jazz Now, just four years from my first slam replied, “It will be like a Month. Program director Quentin Talley appearance, I am ranked the second-best reunion. Our past is in the building and so hosted a series of half-hour shows streamed woman spoken-word poet in the world. I can will be our future, but it’ll be even more live from the Hayti lobby through the undoubtedly say that Hayti has been, and grand because of the investment that has Center’s social media pages. Not too long still is, my creative haven. Even more special been made. Just wait until you get back into after, in honor of Black Music Month, Hayti is having supportive people like Angela the building.” presented “Don’t Stop the Music,” which Lee and Dasan Ahanu constantly there to paid homage to various forms of black encourage and affirm you, contributing 12