In some traditional and legendary African and African-American belief systems, a Center of the Crossroads represents the rising and setting of the sun, and the human life cycle of death and rebirth. The center of a crossroads is where communications with spirits takes place. 

In Indigenous and early African-American communities, a respect for nature was essential for their survival. The land offered spiritual venues, grounding, protection and sustenance.  The fact that the American landscape was a medium for enslavement, lynching, inequality, and racism cannot be ignored. The Middle Passage during enslaved voyages across oceans separated the diaspora from Africa. But rivers became our highways to freedom, moss on trees – our signposts on the Underground Railroad, the sky – our map to the Promised Land. Communion with nature is an intricate part of African American memory.

The African American story is rooted in the land. We cannot run from the painful memories embedded in this relationship, but must embrace the Earth or lose ourselves. Mother Earth is the medium of our history, and remembering that that history was born out of the land is linked to the survival of this planet. Climate change, the extinction of the biodiversity of animals, the pollution of the land and water, the rising of the oceans, coupled with environmental racism – threatens our survival as a people. It is important to understand our community’s relationship with nature’s habitats, species, and the natural features as we move forward.

In The Center of The Crossroads speaks from the center of the crossroads where our African and African American community reaches through time and space, confronts memory and future, communes with the Ancestors and future generations in this race for survival on a dying planet. The exhibition tells the story of the African American historical relationship with Mother Earth and the challenges we face addressing Environmental Racism and Climate Justice.

Vanessa Johnson is a Griot, a storyteller in the West African Tradition. She is a quilter, mixed media fiber artist, community educator, museum consultant, activist, writer, playwright, actor, and vocalist. She is the Artist in Residence for the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center in Fayetteville, NY and is a Mellon and Ford Foundation “Creatives Rebuild NY” grant – 2022-24.