Free Hill: Renewal and Rememory
Free Hill: Renewal and Rememory is both a virtual and place-based exhibition of The Rural Assembly.
Conceived and curated by multimedia producer Xandr Brown, the exhibit uses portraiture, video, oral accounts, multimedia to explore the story of Free Hill, a community founded by free Black Americans in Athens, Tennessee in the 1850s and dismantled by urban renewal more than century later. “The Rural Assembly wanted to explore what it means to grapple with local history and the process of uncovering what has come before so we can pave the way for what comes after,” said Whitney Kimball-Coe, vice president for national programs at The Center for Rural Strategies and director of The Rural Assembly.
This exhibit illustrates the way historical phenomena don’t happen in a world beyond us; rather they occur in the things we heard, what we felt, what we didn’t understand, and what we try so desperately to never forget.
After you explore the exhibit, please share your thoughts with us, including whether you or your organization would be interested in hosting the exhibit in your community.
