Historic Stagville to Host ‘Whippersnappers,’ a Transformative Installation by Maya Freelon
DURHAM, NC – Starting November 16, 2024, Historic Stagville will showcase Whippersnappers, an innovative, site-specific installation by Maya Freelon, a renowned artist and 2024 Artist-in-Residence at the Library of Congress. The exhibition will feature monumental sculptures, collages, and archival photographs, transforming the former plantation to reflect on the experiences of enslaved children in the United States.
About the Installation
Titled Whippersnappers: Recapturing, Reviewing, and Reimagining the Lives of Enslaved Children in the United States, this groundbreaking exhibition marks Freelon’s first large-scale portraiture project. Drawing inspiration from her research in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, Freelon’s work reclaims and reimagines spaces once used to oppress, showcasing resilience through art.
Set within the 1799 Bennehan House and Stagville’s historic barn, Whippersnappers uses thousands of pieces of “bleeding” tissue paper—a hallmark of Freelon’s practice—to create a visually powerful landscape. Integrating historical documents and artifacts from the Library of Congress and the North Carolina Historic Sites Collection, the installation evokes the fragility and strength of its young subjects.
Whippersnappers is organized by Art on the Land, a North Carolina Historic Sites initiative seeking to activate sites of memory through artistic collaborations, place-based art, editorial offerings, and gatherings. Art on the Land is directed and curated by Director of North Carolina Historic Sites Michelle Lanier and Curator-at-Large Johnica Rivers. On Whippersnappers, Lanier shares: “Maya Freelon’s powerful offering to our youngest ancestors will activate Stagville’s historic landscapes and interiors with a posture of healing through reclaiming and reframing memory.”
A Legacy of Art and Storytelling
Freelon’s work is rooted in her personal history. Influenced by summers spent quilting and collaging with her grandmother, Queen Mother Frances Pierce, and inspired by Dr. Maya Angelou—her namesake and early art collector—Freelon’s creations blend familial and historical legacies. Her father, Phil Freelon, designed the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and her great-grandfather, Allan Freelon, Sr., was a prominent Harlem Renaissance artist. This exhibition continues that tradition of storytelling and improvisation, embodying her family’s rich artistic lineage.
“Whippersnappers seeks to illuminate often-overlooked stories and reclaim spaces that historically disempowered enslaved children,” said Freelon. “Through the healing potential of art, I want visitors to connect with the innocence and resilience of childhood, fostering a collective memory that encourages reflection and healing.”
Exhibition Highlights and Viewing Information
The exhibition spans six rooms in the 1799 Bennehan House, including areas such as the attic and former office where the names of enslaved children were recorded as property. Opening day visitors will experience a motion-activated soundscape inside Stagville’s massive barn built in 1860 by enslaved artisans and the largest stable in what was, at that time, Orange County. Calling In the Children was created by seven-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon and sound artist, scholar, and ethnomusicologist Dr. Allie Martin of Dartmouth College and the Black Sound Lab. The collaboration blends archival sounds, call and response, and jazz music recorded in the space during a pre-opening consecration of the grounds.
Opening Day and Special Events
On Saturday, November 16, the exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with artist Maya Freelon present from noon to 3 p.m. for an interactive roundtable discussion. The day’s activities will include guided and self-guided tours and a sound installation that activates the history of Stagville’s grounds.
10 am: Whippersnappers opens for self-guided visits through 3 pm, with Historic Stagville guides and volunteers available to facilitate visitors’ experience.
12 pm: Roundtable discussion with artist Maya Freelon, Director of North Carolina State Historic Sites Michelle Lanier, and Curator-at-Large Johnica Rivers.
Additionally, a Community Tissue Quilt Workshop will be held on December 14 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., where participants can join Freelon in creating a collective art piece. Advanced registration is required.
Details and Contact Information
Whippersnappers will be on display until January 25, 2025. Exhibition hours are Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or by appointment. For further information or to schedule a viewing, contact stagville@dncr.nc.gov or visit historicsites.nc.gov/stagville.
Historic Stagville, located at 5828 Old Oxford Highway in Durham, invites the public to engage with this powerful testament to history, art, and memory.
About Historic Stagville
In 1860, Stagville was part of a vast plantation where the Bennehan and Cameron families enslaved over nine-hundred people. Once one of the largest plantations in North Carolina, Historic Stagville now inspires a new understanding of the history of slavery through preservation, interpretation, research, genealogy, and descendant engagement. The historic site preserves a Bennehan family house (c. 1799), the Horton Grove slave quarters (c. 1851), a barn (c. 1860), and 165 acres of land. For more information, call 919-620-0120 or visit their website at historicsites.nc.gov/stagville.