"Displaced from the Birthplace of America"

A documentary, sculpture and music project by The Local Black Histories Project in partnership with The Village Initiative

Presented as part of the Art & Science Exchange, “Displaced in the Birthplace of America” wove together documentary film, sculpture and music to tell a story too often left out of the American origin narrative. Led by the Local Black Histories Project — a community-university research collaboration with The Village Initiative — the event shed light on the Triangle Block, a once-thriving Black business and residential district in Williamsburg, Virginia, razed under the guise of “urban renewal” in the 1970s.

Through powerful visual storytelling and community testimony, “Displaced in the Birthplace of America” illuminated the human cost of displacement in a city that calls itself the “birthplace of the nation.” It revealed the dismantling of generational wealth, the fragmentation of community ties, and the re-entrenchment of segregation as Black residents were pushed to the political, social and economic margins.

At the heart of this project was the resilience of Black women activists who resisted erasure and demanded recognition. Their stories — anchored in memory, music and place — stood as a call for justice, reclamation and repair.

By bridging the arts, humanities and social sciences, “Displaced in the Birthplace of America” exemplified the kind of community-based research that a public university can and should support: work that is collaborative, historically grounded and responsive to the lived realities of the communities we serve.

Principle Investigators: Amy Quark, Steve Prince and Victor Haskins