Atlanta First United Methodist Church runs

Atlanta First United Methodist Church is running The Praise House Project to celebrate Black History Month. (Photo taken from Atlanta First United Methodist Church’s website)

Atlanta First United Methodist Church is running The Praise House Project - Remembrance as Resistance: Sweet Auburn Rise to honor Black History Month from Friday, Feb. 3, to Saturday, Feb. 11.

The church’s website noted that Charmaine Minniefield, artist-activist, would present a series of sites. It will include public art installations, exhibitions, and programs in downtown Atlanta along Auburn Avenue and King Historic District.

Besides, the project would activate public opportunities to recognize the history of the 1906 Race Massacre and the legacy of Black resistance, as further explained on the website.

About Charmaine Minniefield

According to Charmaine Minniefield's website, she preserves Black narratives as a radical move for social justice. They explained that she is firmly founded in womanist social theory and ancestral veneration.

As further noted, she focused on indigenous traditions experienced throughout Africa and the Diaspora. She wanted to discover African and African-American history, memory, and ritual as a purposeful pushback against erasure.

Moreover, the website states that her creative practice is based on the community. Her research and outcomes of her works often came from public archives, as added on the website.

In addition, they said that she recently worked as Stuart A. Rose Library artist-in-residence at Emory University.

Achievements

The same website highlighted that she presented her work, Remembrance as Resistance: Preserving Black Narratives in Atlanta’s historically segregated cemetery, for more than 800 unnamed graves discovered in African-American burial grounds.

They revealed that Minniefield world with Flux Projects for her work.

Meanwhile, they stressed that she received the prestigious National Endowment of the Arts Our Town Grant. They explained that she presented her Praise House project at three metro Atlanta areas to commemorate those communities' African-American history.

Continuous Study

According to the same website, Minnifield lives in Atlanta and Gambia, where she continues researching her cultural identity's history. She also studies the traditions of Indigenous by rooting in the Ring Shout, as noted on the website.

They mentioned that Michael C. Carlos Museum recently presented her exhibition, “Indigo Prayers: A Creation Story,” on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta.

Atlanta Race Massacre 1906

The Civil and Human Rights website revealed that in the Atlanta Race Massacre in 1906 is about over 5,000 African American were executed across America. They added that there were more than 500 documented executions in Georgia between 1877 and 1950.

Moreover, the website emphasized that half of these incidents happened in Atlanta in September 1906.

The same website shared that Atlanta newspapers released sensationalized and unproven news about Black men assaulting white women. They explained that they resent them for enjoying greater access to voting rights and economic opportunities than African Americans.

According to them, 10,000 white men attacked Black men and women. They reported that they killed at least 23 individuals in stores, trolley cars, streets, and homes. The website said that no one was ever accused of the killings.
More importantly, the website revealed that the Atlanta Race Massacre in 1906 is hugely unknown today. They emphasized that it was a defining moment in Atlanta’s history.