0:00:00.480,0:00:03.700 ["New York Close Up"] 0:00:08.660,0:00:13.240 There’s something that,[br]if you’re quiet enough and you listen, 0:00:13.240,0:00:19.820 you’re being guided or directed to uncover[br]specific bits of information. 0:00:21.420,0:00:23.900 There’s always this act of digging, 0:00:23.900,0:00:28.560 kind of like resuscitating life[br]back into those lost fragments. 0:00:29.700,0:00:33.480 ["Abigail DeVille Listens to History"] 0:00:36.300,0:00:39.880 [The Contemporary at the Peale Museum, Baltimore] 0:00:39.940,0:00:44.720 The materials that I choose are already speaking-- 0:00:45.440,0:00:51.440 speaking to the past through internal intuition. 0:00:56.900,0:00:59.640 History is deep.[br]It’s dark. 0:00:59.860,0:01:04.320 It affects everything that’s happening,[br]even at this very moment. 0:01:04.320,0:01:05.860 It’s like a rock. 0:01:06.420,0:01:11.460 You can try to tease out little bits[br]in trying to make your way through material 0:01:11.460,0:01:14.100 or make a way through space. 0:01:18.080,0:01:21.740 [Abigail DeVille, artist][br]History is the tale of the victor, right? 0:01:21.740,0:01:22.820 It’s garbage. 0:01:23.160,0:01:24.920 It's garbage. 0:01:30.200,0:01:37.320 Like George Washington's "wooden teeth"[br]were actually teeth from slaves. 0:01:37.320,0:01:39.060 God! 0:01:39.060,0:01:40.690 It's nauseating. 0:01:40.690,0:01:43.520 It's like the more you don't want to know,[br]you know? 0:01:43.520,0:01:44.560 [National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Baltimore] 0:01:44.570,0:01:49.310 Well I think the first thing to go in history[br]is the atrocities. 0:01:49.310,0:01:50.479 Nobody wants to remember that. 0:01:50.480,0:01:53.520 That’s the stuff that has to get swept away. 0:01:56.180,0:02:05.320 Cover up--whitewash--is all attributed to[br]the inability to get over slavery. 0:02:05.320,0:02:08.620 It's the hangover that is not going away. 0:02:15.260,0:02:18.300 There’s merit in the attempt to make something 0:02:18.300,0:02:21.160 that could talk about something[br]larger than yourself. 0:02:21.160,0:02:24.620 People are messy,[br]history is messy. 0:02:24.620,0:02:27.080 The work needs to…[br][LAUGHS] reflect that. 0:02:29.560,0:02:33.540 Thinking about bureaucracy[br]and things just piling up. 0:02:39.460,0:02:42.760 Thinking about all the voices that were lost. 0:02:44.380,0:02:47.180 When things are painful,[br]people don’t want to talk about them. 0:02:47.190,0:02:51.650 But we can’t forget about[br]the class of invisible people 0:02:51.650,0:02:55.970 that were present at every single juncture[br]and every single moment 0:02:55.970,0:02:59.800 in the formation of this country and its myths. 0:03:16.040,0:03:20.320 One of the incredible beauties[br]and strengths of African Americans 0:03:20.320,0:03:25.420 is this propensity for joy and endurance-- 0:03:26.260,0:03:27.940 despite all. 0:03:32.600,0:03:40.800 There’s joy to occupy space in direct opposition[br]or contrast of the dominant narrative. 0:03:44.100,0:03:47.560 ["The New Migration," Harlem, New York] 0:03:47.560,0:03:49.200 [SINGING AND PERCUSSION] 0:03:50.340,0:03:54.000 "The New Migration" processionals[br]have been more human-scale. 0:03:54.900,0:03:58.879 They’re usually guerilla performances[br]that happen. 0:03:58.879,0:04:00.420 They’re unannounced. 0:04:00.420,0:04:03.040 You encounter them or you don’t. 0:04:03.040,0:04:05.600 [SINGING CONTINUES] 0:04:22.960,0:04:24.880 [DEVILLE][br]--What inspired me to do that? 0:04:24.880,0:04:27.180 [DEVILLE][br]--It’s based on migration of people. 0:04:27.680,0:04:31.940 [MAN][br]--I get your concept,[br]but where do I fit into that? 0:04:31.940,0:04:33.700 [DEVILLE][br]--Oh, where do you fit into it? 0:04:33.700,0:04:35.140 --Where do you want to fit into it? 0:04:35.140,0:04:36.680 [MAN][br]--I don't want you to answer that... 0:04:36.680,0:04:38.180 [DEVILLE][br]--That’s for you to figure out![br]Yes... 0:04:38.180,0:04:39.340 [MAN][br]-- ...but it’s what I ask of myself all the time. 0:04:39.340,0:04:40.620 [DEVILLE][br]--Oh, all right! [LAUGHS] 0:04:51.060,0:04:54.780 From 1914 to 1970,[br]the Great Migration happened 0:04:54.790,0:04:58.150 and six million African Americans[br]came up North 0:04:58.150,0:05:00.260 looking for better opportunities. 0:05:00.880,0:05:04.360 What’s happening now is this kind of reversal-- 0:05:04.370,0:05:08.120 of people being pushed out[br]of places that they moved to. 0:05:08.120,0:05:11.840 Just because it was north didn't mean that[br]the racial tensions had gone anywhere. 0:05:11.840,0:05:16.880 Well yeah, because white supremacy[br]is what's for dinner, you know? 0:05:22.760,0:05:25.200 [SINGING & MUSIC] 0:05:28.500,0:05:30.840 ["The New Migration,"[br]Anacostia, Washington, D.C.] 0:05:33.080,0:05:33.920 Dragging. 0:05:35.060,0:05:36.400 Walking barefoot. 0:05:36.680,0:05:40.600 It’s the invisible weights[br]that people are walking around with. 0:05:43.700,0:05:45.600 The weight of history holds you down. 0:05:50.240,0:05:53.500 I thought it was important to[br]insert people where 0:05:53.500,0:06:00.000 nobody knows about what Black people[br]have contributed to the history of society. 0:06:00.400,0:06:03.000 [SINGING & MUSIC] 0:06:11.500,0:06:13.420 [SINGING & MUSIC CONTINUES] 0:06:37.800,0:06:42.370 In Martin Luther King’s last speech--[br]the "Mountaintop Speech"-- 0:06:42.370,0:06:46.640 he says, "Somehow, only when it’s dark enough[br]can you see the stars." 0:06:51.560,0:06:55.600 I was immediately drawn to the fearless optimism. 0:07:09.920,0:07:12.460 Love feels like this powerful force 0:07:12.460,0:07:18.060 that actually could enact change[br]more than hate ever could. 0:07:18.660,0:07:22.000 I think hate causes a kind of exhaustion. 0:07:29.020,0:07:31.900 It's something for me[br]never to lose sight of-- 0:07:31.900,0:07:34.820 or to constantly be reminded of-- 0:07:34.820,0:07:37.140 that we, as a people, we're going to get there.