RICHMOND, Va. — Janine Bell lived in Richmond for 35 years without visiting Monument Avenue. But that changed in July, when Ms. Bell threw a gathering honoring Emmett Till under the shadow of a statue of Robert E. Lee.
Standing at the base of the three-story pedestal supporting the Confederate general’s likeness, Ms. Bell, the artistic director of the Elegba Folklore Society, welcomed a small sea of drummers, dancers and bystanders banging on plastic buckets to an event she called the Reclamation Drum Circle.
“We are not playing today,” she said, and invited all present to move and sway to the music. And so began an extended jam session at a park long considered a whites-only space. The drum circle, held on what would have been Emmett Till’s 79th birthday, was the latest in a series of dance happenings — some spontaneous, some thoughtfully choreographed — drawing Black dancers to the Lee statue.
The New York Times: In Richmond, Black Dance Claims a Space Near Robert E. Lee
