Happy Hill: Pride and Dignity, 2006 by Chandra Cox
Winston-Salem State University’s Diggs Gallery (WSSU) opened its summer season with an art exhibit inspired by the Happy Hill community of Winston-Salem.
The exhibition is titled Pride & Dignity from the Hill: A Celebration of the Historic Happy Hill Community. The exhibition will run through February 26, 2011.
An “Opening Reception and Honoring Happy Hill: Past and Present” will be held on Friday, July 9, at 7 p.m. The reception will feature music by the Rising Ebenezer Baptist Church Youth Choir and Voices from Happy Hill Community members.
Diggs Gallery director Belinda Tate
“Pride and Dignity from the Hill is a unique confluence of memory, community history, and visual art,” said Belinda Tate, director of Diggs Gallery. “The exhibition pays homage to struggle and progress of all African Americans through a vibrant interplay of stories and family photos from Happy Hill intermixed with important works by nationally celebrated artists.”
Happy Hill is Winston-Salem’s oldest African-American community. For generations, residents have preserved the oral history of the neighborhood and its families. The exhibition documents this important legacy through the art and testimony of community leaders such as Georgiana Paige McCoy, Maurice Pitts Johnson, Kathleen Bitting Mock, Pastor Edith Jones, Nathaniel Tucker, William “Rock” Bitting, WSSU alumnus Jerry Hanes, Glen Johnson, Ben Piggott, Leander Sales, Kayyum Allah, WSSU alumnus James Funches and others.
The exhibition includes architectural models of area homes embellished by local participants, paintings, photographs, video documentation of the community and a multi-media installation of a juke joint. The show features works by celebrated artists Chandra Cox, Juan Logan, Larry Sass, Leon Woods and Willie Little. It also features works by WSSU art majors Nichola Lumpkin and Ryan Gilliam.
This exhibition is sponsored by the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Richard S. Reynolds III & Marie M. Reynolds Foundation and Winston-Salem State University.
Other Diggs Gallery and Happy Hill coming events include:
Happy Hill Cemetery Memorial
Saturday, July 10 • 10 a.m.
Rising Ebenezer Baptist Church, 900 Free Street in Winston-Salem
Procession to 17th Annual Happy Hill Reunion
(March from Happy Hill Cemetery to Happy Hill Park)
Saturday, July 10 • 11 a.m.
17th Annual Happy Hill Reunion
Saturday, July 10 • 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Happy Hill Park, 1201 Alder Street in Winston-Salem, NC 27127
Save the Date
Diggs Gallery 20th Anniversary Celebration
An Evening of Music and Spoken Word
Friday, October 15 • 7 p.m., $ Tickets required
About Diggs Gallery
Diggs Gallery, one of the South’s leading showcases dedicated to African and African‐American art, is located on the lower level of the O’Kelly Library on the campus of Winston‐Salem State University, 601 South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Winston‐ Salem, NC 27110. It is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. The gallery is a major cultural center at Winston‐Salem State and offers one of the largest exhibition spaces dedicated to the arts of African and the African Diaspora in North Carolina. In 2007, the gallery was identified as one of the top 10 African‐ American galleries in the nation. For more information on this exhibition or to schedule a tour, call Diggs Gallery at 336‐750‐2458, e‐mail diggsinfo@wssu.edu or visit www.wssu.edu/diggs.
