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Two sisters are doing their part to put a spotlight on an overlooked group for the nation's 250th anniversary.
Anika Grant and Nandi Jordan are the creators of Ceremony for Revolutionary Seeds, a traveling installation and participatory ritual series that will take place in the fall in Fort Lee, Trenton, and Camden, focusing on the contributions of Black women in Revolutionary War-era New Jersey.
At each location, visitors will get to take part in hands-on art-making workshops, view a sculptural ceremonial structure, participate in guided tea rituals and see site-based performances.
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Jordan, a Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist and sociologist, said the project came about last summer when they answered a statewide open call for artists posted by the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Monument Labs for its Revolutionary Acts performance and public art series. They were awarded the commission for the project in September.
"Anika is based in New Jersey, while I am based in Los Angeles. I think we were looking for different ways to collaborate. We have collaborated in the past. We saw this call, and it seemed to sit with some of the things we wanted to do," Jordan said. Grant lives in South Orange and is the founder of the events planning company Idlewild Experiential.
Jordan said the idea of focusing on Black women in colonial times came out of not being able to find information on them as having independent lives.
"One of the most significant findings is that there's a lot of missing, there's a lot that's not there. It's very difficult to get women's names and stories about them that exist outside their relationship to someone else ... the wife of a Revolutionary War soldier, etc," Jordan said. "Because of that, we decided not to elevate one person or one name to create a figurehead, but to really think of all the roles they played in our nation's history, and focus on those roles - wife, consort, washerwoman, maid."
The roles of Black women
New Jersey was once a slave state until 1866, when the last 16 enslaved people in New Jersey were freed after the state ratified the 13th Amendment. In 1830, the state was home to more than two-thirds of the entire slave population of the North.
During the Revolutionary War, enslaved men who became free served either under the British or under the Continental Army. They fought in major battles, such as the Battle of Trenton in December 1776, one of the sites where the Ceremony for Revolutionary Seeds tour will stop. Black women in New Jersey also took part by working as cooks, nurses, and workers.
Grant said so far, they are still solidifying the dates for the stops and have not pinned down the exact location for Fort Lee, but the Fort Lee Historic Park, the site of George Washington's 1776 encampment, is on the itinerary. She said the site considered for Camden is the Johnson Cemetery, where more than 100 African American veterans are buried. Meanwhile, several sites are being looked at in Trenton.
Jordan said the installation will not be an exact re-enactment of Black women from that time, and how they went about their daily lives.
"We are not trying to do a replica; we are trying to do kind of an imagining of that past," Jordan said. "We are not trying to be historically accurate with the space or the furnishings or the attire. We are trying to make it relevant to people now."
Grant said she hopes people who check out the installation at one of the three stops will gain an appreciation of Black women's roles during the Revolutionary War.
"We want to hold space for and make space for, and honor the work and participation of these women in that society," Grant said.
Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @ricardokaul
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Sisters plan to spotlight role of Black women in Revolutionary War
