Jazz Under a Simple Tree at the Ward

This WPHL collaboration with the Hampton Art Lovers and Historic Ward Rooming House Gallery consisted of four Story Gathering Saturdays, held from August to October of 2021. These community events collected and preserved oral histories of Black families and the Great Migration, which echoed and complemented our partners’ curated exhibition, “One Way Ticket: Movement, Migrations and Liberty.” That exhibition explored stories of freedom and liberty through the poetry of Langston Hughes and artwork of Jacob Lawrence, with other works from Charles White, Basil Watson, John Biggers, Charles Alston, David Driskell, Leroy Campbell, Anthony Reed II (Mojo) and Marvin Weeks. These free community events featured live jazz and fish fry courtesy of Captain Gooch.