CHAPTER FIVE

INTEGRATION IN YORK

Integration & Community Development

Scholars and York residents alike view integration as a crucial component of successful community development. Yet recent years have seen several failed attempts to integrate the races in York. In one instance, a black high school student tried to get an integrated youth group together to talk about race, but black and white parents shut it down before it could begin. On another occasion, a black minister preached, “We need to get all of us together. Christ isn’t going to have a white kingdom and a black kingdom. If we get there, we’re going to be together.” He told the story of the Good Samaritan, then stated that “We are all neighbors, and the Lord means for us to be together, both black and white, to be a neighbor to each other.” To this end, the preacher organized a sunrise service to pull the black and white communities together. The plan was for blacks to go to the white service one year and for whites to go to the black service the next year. The attempt failed, however, because “some black preachers told blacks to stay at the black churches and not to go to the white churches.”

In fact, in the history of York until 2001, I was only told of one instance in which blacks and whites came together. During World War II, one resident recalls, blacks and whites “got together in churches, singing and praying for the boys to come home. A drastic disaster has got to bring us together,” she states, adding that during this time, some residents still chose not to mix.

Some York residents, however, do not believe a drastic disaster is necessary for integration, and cite recent successes. One resident states that “in the past ten years, people have become more integrated in homes, and communities are becoming more diverse.” Another confirms that now “you see black and white living in the same neighborhoods” and another states that “there are more mixed marriages now.” One resident adds that “in some places, black and white work together and at the University [of West Alabama] they socialize together.” Though she points out that some students at the university still choose not to mix, “because their parents told them not to.” She believes “the younger generation will be somewhat different than the older generation” and “will work more closely together.”

Despite these advancements, however, integration in York is a work in progress. Several residents point out that even when spaces are integrated, a true mixing of the races does not necessarily exist. One resident states that she lives in an integrated community in West Alabama, “but the people don’t talk to us. In Birmingham,” she explains, “we were friends with our neighbors. Here we just live together and that’s it. We wave to each other.” Another states that “at integrated meetings, people flop to one side or the other. People want to be with their own kind.”

As a whole, York residents believe true integration takes time. One Alabama resident points out that interracial marriages are still new even in Birmingham. A York resident states, “You can’t change it overnight, it takes a long time before a change can be made.” Another adds that “bringing black and white together can’t be done with speed. It will be one [person] at a time and will require intense outside help.” Another resident believes that in the attempt to integrate, “we’ll disappoint each other a lot, but we’ll keep trying. Even in our struggles, we’re growing.”

York residents also recognize that not everyone will be convinced that integration is the answer. Horst states that at the Coleman Center, “it was hard to find projects all people would support, but over time,” she states, “integration becomes more natural.” Riddick adds that there will always be “a trickle of people that are racist. Certain people don’t want blacks to have the same as whites,” she states. “You can’t change people. You can only do what you can do and hope people see how much joy it can bring.”

Despite the slow pace toward integration, York residents stay the course because they believe integration is necessary for community growth. One resident states that “we’re still pretty separate in terms of culture. We have to get on the same page to make the art movement grow.” Another states that cosmetic changes in York “may help, but if you don’t change the culture, you don’t answer the deep-seeded stuff. York will only prosper through consensus.” A local business owner adds that in York, “We have to have each other to make it. We are in a community with no jobs. If we don’t rely on each other, we can’t exist.” A resident of York puts it another way: “We gotta get together some way or another, but how?”

Many in York answer this question by calling for cooperation between the black and white communities. The mayor states that unless the community comes together as one, “we’ll all die out. The only way to make it as a community,” she insists, “is if we work together.” A local business owner agrees York needs “to work together as a whole instead of the left arm going left and the right arm going right.” She states that “the community consists of both races, and until we come together as a community, York will not prosper.”

One resident points out that York “can’t draw people or industry without a good climate. We have to come together instead of being separate by race. This is the first step. It’s going to take all of us working together to make this county work or it will dry up. We have a lot of talented people. We just have to come together.” She believes York needs “a mixture of both cultures working together” and calls for “more whites working in the public sector so that people see it as integrated. The city council has two white members” she states, “but it should be 50/50.” The mayor of York agrees that the town “needs middle ground” with “white and black working together 50/50.”

A local business owner believes the races could come together through “town meetings where everyone can come out and express their opinions. There is no forum now for meetings,” he explains. “They’re only held if some issue comes up.” He adds that the races need to be inclusive of each other. For instance, “If the white girls are having tea, they need to invite the black girls, and if the black girls are having a barbecue, they need to invite the white girls. It’s about exchanging,” he states. “That’s the only way to have harmony.” This statement poignantly illustrates the lack of cultural exchange present in York today, with this resident picturing white girls sitting down to tea while black girls hold a barbecue.

Integrating the Schools

While residents have mentioned community forums and seeking a racial balance in government as strategies to promote integration in York, the strategy most often mentioned is integrating the schools. Upon researching segregated schools in Sumter County, Adams found that “when community loyalty is split in rural communities between public and private school systems, the social networks that may facilitate deliberation are limited or divided and the possibility for collective action diminishes” (Adams 2005:6-7).

York residents confirm Adams’ findings. One states, “I have no idea short of building a new school what will bring the community together. Mixed schools are the very first step. If black and white children go to school together, they can get along and be friends. It’s the first step in changing the community. Once students are forced together, parents are forced together.” Another resident believes York “should build a magnet school to attract all kids.” She asks, “How will we ever come together if someone doesn’t take that first step?” The current mayor of York adds that she “would like to see the school systems merge together” and the former mayor believes that “one of these days the schools will be integrated and Sumter County will have one high school” although “it might be 2050 or 2055” before it happens.

Interestingly, another resident in York suggests involving older whites in the public schools as a step toward integration. He states that "older whites don’t participate in public school functions, and they came up in that school. They need to be given opportunities to come back into the school system. No one ran them out. They chose to leave during civil rights years,
but that story’s got old. A lot of people graduated from there. They need to have a chance to reminisce about their school days. We need to invite white graduates back to join with them in harmony and understanding. To have appreciation days. That would clarify a lot of stuff."

Despite these positive statements, however, York residents are “mixed about integrating the schools.” When the new superintendent held focus groups on integrating the schools in York, the response was divided in half between those who wanted to integrate and those who did not. One resident explains that citizens of York “want better schools but don’t know how to do it, or even what it means.” She states that “lots of tension and deep wounds keep people from seeing integrated schools as a possibility” and that “people are afraid to initiate change. They wait for permission,” she explains, “for someone who has more authority to make the change.”

Integration in York’s Art Movement

As many in York believe schools should be integrated, many also believe in the need for an integrated art movement. In fact, York residents often view integration as vital to the movement’s success. Creating an integrated art movement in York demands increasing black participation, which residents believe would bring new leaders, new donors, and previously untapped knowledge, talent, connections, and resources. The black community’s own cultural capital, separate from white cultural capital, contains resources and talent unknown and unrecognized by white leaders. One resident states that Coleman Center shows featuring local black artists have revealed “a wealth of talented people I wasn’t aware of.” Thus, integration is crucial to the art movement because black participants can help to reclassify elements of black culture as assets, preventing black cultural assets from being overlooked, or worse, condemned.

In order to increase black involvement, residents believe the art movement must reach out specifically to the black community, especially due to the past perception of the Coleman Center as a white institution. As Servon states, perpetuating existing organizations which draw strength from certain kinds of identity potentially deepens existing cleavages that feed intolerance and maintain institutions which discriminate along the lines of gender, race, class, and ethnicity. These homogenous associations in heterogeneous societies may strengthen trust and cooperative norms within an ethnic group, but weaken trust and cooperation between groups (Servon 2003).

Thus, the success of the Coleman Center depends on its ability to recreate itself as a heterogeneous, interracial center. A local business owner states the Coleman Center “needs to make the black community feel welcome, to help them to know the art is for them.” An artist in residence believes the movement must “do outreach to the black community for the arts to succeed.” Another believes York needs a continual program to involve blacks in the arts, pointing out that it will take a lot of enrolling to get blacks to participate as traditionally they did not view the arts as open to them.

Some residents believe personal invitations to art events would help to increase black participation. A local business owner states that the Coleman Center “needs to make more of an effort to involve blacks,” pointing out that “it only takes a few minutes to extend a personal invitation.” She believes that if the Coleman Center extended personal invitations to black organizations, they “would be enthused to participate” and “it would help to get the black community involved in art in York.” Executive director Shana Berger agrees that the Coleman Center “needs to reach out specifically to the black community and let them know the doors are open. Lots of folks won’t come without an invite,” she states, “because it’s not a place they felt welcome in the past.”

Residents recognized the need to extend personal invitations to the black community in the Coleman Center’s early days as well. Founder Tut Riddick states that because a lot of people in York do not read the newspaper, she had five hundred cards printed announcing the Coleman Center’s opening and went to every post office in Sumter County to hand them out personally. “Just like a politician,” she says. As a result, five hundred people attended the opening, “but finding the manpower to communicate personally is a problem,” Riddick states. Thus, involving the black community was a priority at the Coleman Center’s inception, but the challenges of doing so and the subsequent years of part time directors left the task unfulfilled.

In recent years, the Coleman Center has again consciously attempted to reach the black community, and has met with some success. These efforts have helped to transform the Coleman Center’s identity into an integrated institution, leading to bigger turnouts at events and a changed perception among the black community. One resident calls the Coleman Center “the one progressive thing going on in York,” stating that “previously there was no understanding by the black community that the Coleman Center was something for them, but it has made real strides in involving the black community.” Another resident believes the Coleman Center has recently “gone further than it has before in terms of reaching out to the whole community.” A third resident states, “My perception of the Coleman Center was of little old ladies drinking tea, but now I see it as a growth mechanism for the county.”

Strategies for Increasing Black Participation and Promoting Integration

A Neutral Space

One York artist states that “one thing that brings people together most is a shared goal that all participants want to achieve. Art could be that goal. It could be a big step in bringing people together in York.” Indeed, the Coleman Center has brought people together through art, partly because it provided a neutral space in which the races could interact. Saxton states that “one thing we tried to do was create the Coleman Center as a place that was racially ‘neutral’- meaning that no matter what race you were, you would know that the Coleman Center was welcoming to you.”

Horst adds that many of its members wanted the Coleman Center to be integrated upon her arrival in 2003, but did not know how to go about it because there are no integrated organizations in the area to serve as examples. She states that “Coleman Center members were liberal minded and open to change. They did not impose segregation [at the Coleman Center], but they didn’t know how to incorporate the entire community because there is no example of an organization that’s integrated in the area. They needed advice about what steps to take. Lots of people want to work together, they don’t want to be segregated, but they don’t know how. People on both sides don’t really know what to do.”

Thus, the new directors provided the leadership necessary to promote integration at the Coleman Center. Horst states that “the Coleman Center is in a position to serve as a unifying force in the community, as a neutral ground where everyone comes together. The Coleman Center gave [York residents] an opportunity for mixing.” One resident calls the Coleman Center the “one thing that brought different segments of society together,” and that it “became the center for mixing the races.” Another adds that in York, “things have been segregated, the community has been completely divided, but the Coleman Center has been able to pull the races together and give some diversity to the arts in this area.” To illustrate the diversity at the Coleman Center, Horst describes a project by artist in residence Stuart Hyatt. Hyatt lived in York for four weeks listening to as much live music as he could, then wrote eight songs inspired by what he had heard and recorded eighty eight people in the community singing them. “At the opening,” Horst states, “it was the first time a lot of people had been in the same room together. It was a Sumter County harmony moment.”

The interracial contact afforded by the establishment of a racially neutral space in York has helped to diminish the gulf of ignorance between the black and white communities and replace it with friendship and trust. After dining at a white resident's house, a black resident remarked, “We’ve never had dinner at a white person’s house before. You eat just like we do!” Indeed, research in the Black Belt community of Uniontown, Alabama, confirms that as blacks and whites “focus on the interests they have in common” through community development efforts, “the differences between them begin to seem smaller…Relationships are being established across the issue of race, not by dealing with the issue explicitly or talking about racial barriers or how to overcome them. Rather, trust is developing as black and white citizens work together on projects to bring about community improvements” (Sumners 2005:14). Likewise in York, one artist states that simply working together in the arts district and on Coleman Center projects has brought black and white together. An art project in the schools, for example, allowed white volunteers to relate to black youth and showed black youth that they are cared about by white residents.

Interracial contact also creates a desire and a momentum for further contact. After participating in an arts project at a black school, a white youth expressed interest in becoming a reading tutor at the school. “So it opens those doors,” states a local artist. She believes it is important that art projects continue to be integrated, because in Sumter County “there aren’t a lot of chances for kids of different races to relate to each other. When they go to college, that may be the first time they’ve sat in a classroom with someone of another race. There needs to be more understanding between the races earlier [in life].” Fortunately, the art movement in York has taken a step toward generating that understanding.

Targeting Youth

Many in York believe targeting youth is an effective way to boost black participation in the art movement. A local business owner suggests setting up “neighborhood art projects so youth can access art in their own streets.” Many residents believe getting schools involved in the arts is critical. Berger and Purath agree that educational programming is a good direction for Coleman Center to go and have begun working with youth in schools. They also hope to attract school field trips to the Coleman Center gallery.

Artists have already experienced success in programs targeting youth. Streetscapes 2004 was a collaborative effort between the Coleman Center and downtown artists which invited local youth to participate in a free mosaic workshop (see Appendix 2, Figure 6). The project was staffed with volunteers who taught youth about abstract art and science by enlarging images of indigenous trees (pecan, white oak, and silver maple) to create images of cellular structure which resembled abstract art. The patterns were then transferred onto concrete slabs and thirty participating black and white youth learned to cut glass and create mosaics during a two-week workshop. The mosaics were installed in sections of damaged city sidewalks in York, next to examples of the trees they represent.

The Coleman Center and downtown artists also collaborated in Your Art Here, a project intended to raise youth awareness of the arts (see Appendix 2, Figure 7). Fifth and sixth graders at both public and private schools were instructed to draw about their community. The drawings were then collaged, enlarged, and featured on three billboards around town. One of the billboards sits at the back of a vacant lot across from an artist’s shop, and she has watched kids pass by it, proudly showing their parents their work. Another billboard sits atop the York police station, where officers report increased traffic congestion due to drivers slowing down to look.

In addition, New Outlooks was a project involving eleven local youth who attended photography classes at the Coleman Center for five weeks during the summer of 2006. Berger states that the group consisted of ten black students and one white who participated in a range of activities “focused on composition and self-expression” with the purpose of creating “a space for their vision within the community.” At the end of the project, students’ work was featured on billboards in York, Livingston, and in the Coleman Center gallery, where blacks and whites alike attended the opening.

In fact, youth programming was used as a strategy for increasing black participation in the Coleman Center’s early days as well. Founder Tut Riddick relates the following anecdote as illustration:

"A few years after the Coleman Center opened, we had an art demonstration at the Sumter County High School and the
condition of the school was so bad, it was like we were furnishing cake when they didn’t even have bread. I said the best
thing we can do is not another program at the Coleman Center, but to paint the school hallways. Some whites didn’t want to give money to fix black schools. One friend told me I was ruining myself in York for getting involved. I told her I didn’t want to belong to the country club anyway. And I said, ‘You mean they won’t take my money at the grocery store? So kids came to Altman Corner (on Avenue A) to talk about colors. Since the halls were so dark, we painted the lower halves denim blue and the upper halves glossy white. Then on the railing we had a green segment that led to a green door, a purple segment that led to a purple door, etc. We gave the plan to the teacher and he said, ‘What is this?’ but he had no choice. The school was totally organized before we got there and we painted the whole school, then we collected posters from friends and put them on the walls. Then the basketball team raised money to paint the gym. Someone brought us watermelons in the cafeteria. They supported us completely. It’s just having the guts and the courage to do it."

Youth programming is a key strategy for building an interracial art movement because it helps to prevent youth from developing racial stereotypes. One artist states that “hopefully the kids don’t have preset notions about race yet” so that integrated community art projects can prevent those stereotypes from ever developing and break down stereotypes already in place. Further, many in York believe the path to integration is through youth and the schools. Thus, one of the strongest powers of art in York is its ability to provide contact and opportunities for building interracial relationships between youth who have no other forum in which to do so. The mayor states that “if art is integrated, people will start asking, ‘What else can we do? What can we do to pull kids together?” Purath adds that “if the community has places that are integrated, we’ll get closer to thinking our kids could go to school together.”

Youth programming also increases black participation by drawing in adults. A Coleman Center board member states that when the Coleman Center “goes into schools, the parents of the kids who participate become interested and it brings them to the Coleman Center.” She believes the Coleman Center needs “to have more exhibits where students have participated in the art” because it gets their parents to come. “In order to get to the community,” she states, “we have to get to the parents and children.” A local business owner calls it “a good step that the Coleman Center went into public schools. When the students come,” she states, “the parents follow.” A local resident confirms that “if you get children motivated, parents will come out. And if you get families, then you get the community.”

Berger agrees that “contact with the community happens through youth programming.” She explains that “people really connected to Your Art Here because they had a personal tie to it.” At the opening, several people made comments like “My grandson did that” or “I know someone who goes to school there.” Adults were willing to approach her, Berger says, because their children knew her through the project. Indeed, York residents cite youth projects as a major reason the black community has begun to participate in the art movement.

Community Projects

Former Coleman Center director Amy Horst states that “the most eye-opening and moving thing was when artists in residence were in York doing projects that engaged the community.” Thus, in addition to creating youth projects, the art movement has also reached out to the black community by creating projects in downtown York. One local artist states that the “community won’t come to you, you have to go to the community” and Berger and Purath have pledged to “do more outside the Coleman Center walls.” Former directors Horst and Saxton accomplished this by recruiting artists in residence to create public art. One resident explains that “you used to have to come into the gallery, but all of a sudden art was on billboards, benches, sidewalks, sculptures in Cherokee Park. The art got out in front of people.” A Coleman Center board member adds that the “greater emphasis on public art and community art needs to expand even further.”

The Coleman Center also sponsors a yearly festival called Rooster Day in which local black artists offer free art classes to residents. One resident called the festival “a good community motivator,” stating that afterwards “people who didn’t come said they heard it was so nice that they would come next year.” A local business owner agrees that Rooster Day “brought out lots of people” and believes more festivals in York would increase integration. He believes “all the businesses need to get together and come up with something to benefit the city, and have all the city people understand we’re working with them. At least once a year,” he states, “we need to have an event with rides, food, and clean entertainment. York will come out for these events.”

Coleman Center directors Berger and Purath maintain the emphasis on community art by continuing to recruit artists in residence to create public art in York and by designing community art projects. Their Community Memory Map consisted of two large abstracted maps of York which residents filled in with memories, photographs, drawings, stories, poems, and collages (see Appendix 2, Figure 8). The project’s intention was “to bring together all community members in the common goal of reflecting on the past to juxtapose individual perceptions with collective identity” (“Coleman Center” 2006). In other words, to create bridging cultural capital between the black and white communities by uniting them under a common identity. In fact, all of the community and youth oriented projects at the Coleman Center have encouraged black and white residents to discover common cultural ground and to develop friendships and trust. Thus, we see the creation of bridging social and cultural capital so vital to community development efforts.

Local Artists

The art movement in York has also boosted black participation by featuring the work of local black artists. Berger states that “if people have a connection to the artist, when they come they’ll have a good experience and will think about coming back.” She cites one of her goals as building “innovative programming that directly involves the community. In the past,” she explains, “when local clubs have exhibited artwork and crafts at the Coleman Center, it really helped to draw in the community because it was local art.” A local artist agrees that the Coleman Center should “let the public know they can put in some of their work. That would draw more people to participate, and their families and friends would come to support them.” When the Coleman Center sponsored a poetry reading by a black York resident, it drew more members of the black community than ever before. “It was wall to wall people,” the poet states. A resident adds that “blacks and whites of all ages and all levels of education came.”

Type of Art

In order to connect with the black community, several York residents believe the art movement must employ types of art of interest to the community. One local business owner believes “getting more input from the public about what kinds of programs the community wants would help to get more blacks involved.” Indeed, by asking the black community about the art they produce and prefer, the art movement can include more of the cultural attributes in the area, boosting the power of the movement as a whole. Just as some whites failed to catalog a local black business as an asset, they may also lack knowledge about art assets in the black community.

Some in York suggest that the traditionally low turnout at Coleman Center events is due to the black community’s limited interest in the type of art shown. An artist in residence explains that under former directors, "the exhibits were contemporary artists which people don’t understand. Four people showed up at a contemporary art opening, but when a local artist from Demopolis opened, 150 people showed up. I see no problem with contemporary art, but it should be limited to two shows per year and the artist should have a connection to the state. Sumter County isn’t the audience for contemporary art. The audience needs to be educated about art in the first place, because contemporary art is often conceptual and has more to do with the story than the object. How are you going to put seven Pepsi cans in a gallery when people will say, ‘I just saw seven Pepsi cans in the street?’

A local business owner agrees that “some people didn’t like the contemporary, conceptual work. They said, ‘This isn’t art.’ You can’t do solely that type of work. You have to be aware of your audience and what they understand and appreciate.” Purath adds that “it’s hard to get new people interested in art. In any community there’s a stigma, an air of pretentiousness. They think it’s not for them, they’re not smart enough to understand, so you have to think of other ways to connect.”

One artist in residence agrees there is a disconnect between contemporary art exhibits at the Coleman Center and the type of art of interest to the black community. He states that blacks primarily access art through performance and music. “Music is a major folk tradition in West Alabama,” he states, and “performance poetry also has deep roots in the recitation traditions occurring in black churches.” Thus, he believes music and poetry programming could attract the black community to the Coleman Center. In fact, he attributes the recent high attendance at a poetry reading not only to the fact that the poet was black, but to the fact that poetry has strong black roots. Berger agrees that York residents are “more into music, poetry, and crafts” and adds that exhibits of local work were well-attended because they featured crochet and quilting, which are popular in the area. She also agrees that tailoring the type of art shown at the Coleman Center to fit community interest would draw in more members of the black community.

Importantly, residents who advocate designing art programming to match local tastes do not believe that West Alabama residents are incapable of comprehending or appreciating conceptual and contemporary art. The artist quoted above suggests that “poetry could be an in for the black community as far as interacting with the Coleman Center, and through patience and time, there would be an appreciation of visual art as well.” A local business owner agrees the “appreciation of art will build over time as the Coleman Center audience changes.”

Catalysts & Champions

Community developer Vaughn Grisham states that the community development process begins with individuals he calls “catalysts” who seek to improve the community. These catalysts get together with other like minded individuals whom Grisham calls “champions,” and a community development effort is born (Grisham 2005). Though communities cannot directly create catalysts and champions, their presence is key to successful community development efforts. York has benefited from several of these leaders, whose combined presence created momentum and “a buzz in York about the arts.”

Tut Riddick, founder of the Coleman Center, was the catalyst in York. Many residents believe art in York would have never flourished, or have even begun, without Riddick’s vision and dedication. Further, one Alabama resident calls her “instrumental in bridging the black/white divide.” Riddick created, for example, the Coleman Center sponsored Rooster Day at which black artists offered free art classes to the community. Indeed, Riddick did not seem confined by the traditional structure of York. She was a member of the white elite, to be sure. Hers was one of the town’s founding families. Yet she rejected the loftiness her position afforded her, stating, “I didn’t want to belong to the country club anyway,” and instead used her power and status to create something for the entire community. In fact, Riddick believes that “if an art gallery doesn’t affect the life of the community, it’s failing.” The Coleman Center’s current director agrees that the goal of art is to “transform society. As artists, you couldn’t think of a better mission,” she states. “I think it’s the responsibility of artists to have goals like that. Tut believed that. It’s the mission of the Coleman Center.”

Several artists have acted as champions for the art movement and integration in York, building on the foundation Riddick set. One resident states that the “same people attended all the [Coleman Center] functions” until Amos Kennedy arrived in 2002. A local artist believes that because Kennedy is black, he has helped blacks to feel more welcome in the art movement and has “helped blacks and whites understand each other better.” Indeed, one black resident states that he only knows of the Coleman Center because he made friends with Kennedy. Marilyn Gordon, director of Black Belt Designs, is another often cited champion for black participation in the arts, especially because she introduced the women attending her sewing workshops to the Coleman Center. Both Kennedy and Gordon are credited with getting local youth interested in their crafts and producing work which “is all about embracing the larger community, breaking down invisible barriers and color lines.” Mary Zeno, a local black poet, is also viewed as essential to the movement after her first reading at the Coleman Center drew more than fifty members of the black community to the Coleman Center for the first time in history.

The mayor of York has championed the art movement as well. Residents call Mayor Carolyn Gosa “totally supportive,” “embracing of the arts,” and “very active and energetic.” One resident states that the mayor “is so supportive of anything and everything we do. If we come up with an outlandish plan, she’ll find a way to make it happen.” Another adds that “Mayor Gosa is really involved. Whatever the Coleman Center wants to do, she asks what the City of York can do. The mayor was instrumental in getting new board members and in shaping the mission of the Coleman Center.” Another states that there is “lots of cooperation between Mayor Gosa and the Coleman Center,” and believes this city leadership has been crucial to the art movement’s success. A West Alabama resident agrees, calling it “interesting and promising that local government has gotten behind the art initiative.”

The mayor specifically aided the art movement by boosting the involvement of the black community. Horst states that the mayor was “key to pulling the community in.” An Alabama resident researching York views the mayor as a “progressive and intelligent” person who “desires to see beyond color.” Indeed, Mayor Gosa cites one of her goals as changing the perception of the Coleman Center “as a white thing. I wanted to be the person to unite the city,” she states. “I told the black community, ‘They’re having all these shows, let’s go!’ And the more the black community went, the more they enjoyed it and talked about promoting it. When I brought the black community to the Coleman Center, things started happening. Now they knew they could come; now they felt a part of it.” Mayor Gosa calls the Coleman Center “the right idea at the wrong time. It took until 2001 for it to take off,” she explains. “It works now because I’m a black female and I can draw both sides. I’m part of the newer generation. I can bring [the races] together.”

Former Coleman Center directors Horst and Saxton are key champions of the art movement, and are often credited with increasing black participation. A local artist states that Horst and Saxton positively influenced the racial inclusiveness of art in the community. Speaking of Horst and Saxton, an Alabama resident adds that it only “took a few people inviting blacks in and making them feel safe and wanted” to increase black participation in the arts.

Horst and Saxton boosted black participation through direct, purposeful efforts. The Municipal Workshop, for example, strengthened the Coleman Center’s relationship with city government. Because public works, the city council, and the mayor are all black, this stronger connection to the city helped link the Coleman Center to the rest of the black community. As artistic director, Saxton states his goal was “to transform the Coleman Center from a place of private activity to one of community involvement.” His success in this venture is confirmed by a resident who cites Saxton’s program, and states that in the past five years, the Coleman Center “directors have become more involved in bringing the whole community in.”

Horst and Saxton also encouraged black participation by actively seeking black members for the Coleman Center board. Saxton states that the “board has increased in size and the racial makeup is beginning to be more reflective of the community.” Another board member adds that there is a “pretty good mix of races on the board. When I came in 2002, there were only two blacks, but now it’s a little more diverse.” Horst adds that in addition to being represented in larger numbers, blacks now occupy higher positions on the board. The subsequent Coleman Center directors continued to recruit blacks to the board, and by the summer of 2006, the board consisted of 6 blacks, 4 whites, and one Native American.
The increased involvement of blacks on the Coleman Center board reflects an important tenet of community development: diverse leadership. In fact, Gittel emphasizes the need to specifically involve leaders from the dominated group (Gittell 2003). Directors’ actions to increase the number and rank of blacks on the Coleman Center board helps to legitimate the Coleman Center in the eyes of the black community and boost support for the art movement. Growing local leaders also aids both continuity in and commitment to the movement.

Growing Local Leaders

Many of the changes in York over the past five years were sparked by outsiders. Horst and Saxton’s ability to rally the black community is often attributed to their outsider status. A local artist explains that the directors “were able to make a lot of black friends” because they did not possess “a southern white York perspective where you always controlled everything. You could just say yes or no to them. Not yes ma’am and no ma’am.” An Alabama resident agrees, stating that because the directors “didn’t grow up in the Deep South, they automatically invited black people to events. They got out and made friends with the black community, invited them to their house. So the black community felt welcome and wanted and treated as equals.”

Horst concurs that “being from the outside helped a lot. Both cultures were completely foreign to us,” she explains. “We weren’t in either, or perceived as belonging to either group.” In fact, despite being white themselves, Horst states that she and Saxton “were more accepted by blacks than by whites.” Current Coleman Center directors Berger and Purath also cite outsider advantages. They too are from the Midwest, as Horst and Saxton were, and believe “a sense of ‘They’re Yankees, they didn’t know any better’” exists in York, allowing them to “cross social lines and get away with it without judgment. Though it is a fine line,” they state.

These outside leaders played a critical role in promoting integration in York. Just as some local residents hesitate to take steps toward integrating schools, waiting “for someone who has more authority to make the change,” some also hesitate to take steps toward building an integrated art movement. Their reticence is due to several factors, including a lack of knowledge about how to pursue integration, a dearth of integrated organizations in the area to serve as models, and a reluctance to cross longtime racial barriers. A local business owner explains, “You can have a successful organization as a white person, but if you want it to be community wide, you’ll lose some white support.” An artist in residence adds that the art movement’s “challenge is to overcome small town thinking. Every small town has its forces that keep it a small town,” he explains. And York is no different.” Riddick agrees, stating that “in small towns, people are very influenced by what others think.” Whenever she did something controversial at the Coleman Center, Riddick states, people “were glad I came in and said ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ Then they could say, ‘Tut said to do it’ and I’d be off to Mobile.”

Thus, leaders from outside York were needed to set a path toward integration. It is up to local leaders, however, to build upon their efforts. Successful community development requires locally driven, locally defined efforts so that the community can control its fate. In addition, outside leaders cannot provide the continuity and longevity necessary for successful development. A West Alabama resident states that changing Coleman Center directors often is “a problem for long-term development,” pointing out that both couples who have served as directors will move on from York. She believes the town “needs to grow local leadership and talent to continue growing the program, for the vision to be maintained.”

In addition, Horst and Saxton’s outsider status also had some negative consequences for the movement. A disadvantage of being outsiders, a local artist in residence explains, was that Horst and Saxton simply did not know people in the community when they arrived. The former Coleman Center director used to “call people before the exhibitions and get them to come, but [Horst and Saxton] didn’t have that advantage.” Horst and Saxton’s lack of knowledge of local groups like the Friends of the Coleman Center also resulted in a loss of critical financial support. There was also some level of mistrust of Horst and Saxton due to their outsider status. One resident explains that Saxton “didn’t pay attention to the way things go down here socially, and some people found that threatening.” Another states that upon Horst’s departure, “she offered to find someone to take her place, but someone on the Coleman Center board said, ‘Why would we want to do that? It would just be more damn Yankees.’”

The cultural gap between the new directors and the older members of the Coleman Center board fueled dissension over which direction the Coleman Center should take. The following quotes illustrate the views of three local residents.

"Tension eventually developed because their visions didn’t coincide anymore. The old members of the board and Riddick felt like this isn’t what the Coleman Center used to be. They felt their ideas and visions didn’t have any weight, that they’d lost some control. All the older crowd was wealthy and here were these young Yankee people telling them they weren’t going to do things their way anymore. The old crowd was used to being able to get their friends shows. They felt like the message was that shows of local people weren’t good enough anymore, and they felt that people don’t want to see art they don’t understand."

"Leadership problems occurred when Horst came in as director of the Coleman Center because she didn’t understand the situation of York. There were several older white people on the board who’d been there a long time and had a traditional Southern background. Young folks have to realize that these habits and culture can’t change overnight. Horst got new members on the board and poisoned the well against the older members. Now they have a bunch of new members that can’t support the Coleman Center financially."

"Little old ladies have a different opinion about what kind of art needs to be showcased. They don’t want anything too radical or extreme. Some [older board members] have died, some have moved on, and some it would be better if they left, but some have influence in terms of funding. The new members are open to anything, as long as it’s not distasteful or disrespectful."

Following Horst and Saxton’s departure, the current Coleman Center director states that “tensions that had been under the surface blew wide open. It was tough for everyone. People had been upset but it had been under the surface. It was a result of a lack of direct communication, gossip getting out of hand, making things big. It undermines people’s trust in each other.” One artist attributes the tension to a “small town mentality” which “undermines efforts to bring people together. Gossip has a high currency,” she explains. “Things get blown out of proportion and grudges are held a long time.” In fact, the tension was so severe that the Alabama State Council on the Arts stepped in to assist in the transition from Horst and Saxton to the new directors.

This dissension did cause some major shifts on the Coleman Center board. An artist in residence states that “the board is changing. Many of the old guard have left because they served for so long and got tired. Four have resigned. [Horst] redid the bylaws and some took that as an opportunity to leave.” In 2005, one board member explains, the Coleman Center was still in the process of reorganizing. Riddick was involved less and the chairman of the board had resigned after twenty years of service. The longtime treasurer had recently died, and new directors had come on board in July.

Despite the upheaval, several of those in the art movement do not view the divisions as insurmountable. A documentary filmmaker researching York sees the differences among leaders as a natural part of growth, stating that “people start something and feel ownership of it, then get upset when others take it over. These are natural growing pains that have been happening in York lately. Now they’re having problems about whose name is on this, who takes credit. He said, she said stuff.” A former York resident agrees, stating that the “Coleman Center has the potential for doing a lot, if it had leadership, but now the leaders are just fussing at each other. They need to get their act together and start promoting the town.” Riddick adds that “people get their feelings hurt and I’m upfront, I’ve hurt some feelings, but we’re all working for the good of the group. We’ve all made mistakes, but grudges weigh you down too much. As a group matures, more and more good stuff will come out of it.”

Berger adds that Riddick’s vision of “artists teaching and people taking classes [in York] is not that different from the vision of the new board members. The visions could come back together again.” She cites one of her major goals as director as “bringing everyone with an interest back together and really moving ahead, moving forward. People are starting to come back together,” she says. “We’re hoping we can bring everyone back on board.”

To unite the divided members of the art movement, several York residents cite the need for strong leadership and clear goals. A former resident believes York needs to develop new leadership, and hopes leaders will emerge from the new generation. She adds that leadership also needs to come from “city government and the Coleman Center. It takes a plan and someone to execute the plan.” Growing local leaders is thus necessary to provide the stability, continuity, and determination needed to continue moving toward integration.

Art Itself

Art can promote integration through its inherent functions and qualities which break down barriers. Riddick views art as a “bridge capable of pulling people together.” A regional development agency outside of York agrees that “the arts touch people on a personal, emotional level and have the power to rebuild the fabric of the community where it has been torn apart by years of poverty and struggle. The arts can construct bridges across barriers of class, race, gender, and age. The arts can interpret and celebrate the past, present, and future of a community to replace despair and apathy with hope and creation” (Phillips 2004:114).

Celia Carey, currently filming a documentary about York for Alabama Public Television, states that “the thing that struck me [about York], the bigger story, was that in a town in the Black Belt, which is 78% black, this was the first time blacks had socialized with whites. This project crossed social lines in ways other activities hadn’t in decades. I wondered, ‘What it is about art that makes it a bridge?’”

York residents have several responses to Carey’s question. First, they believe art is accessible to everyone. Horst states that “no one owns art. Everyone can access it.” A Coleman Center board member believes the arts have aided integration because they are something everyone can enjoy. He states that “art activities help the community come together [because] art overcomes racial boundaries. People like music whether they’re white or black.” Riddick cites art’s inherent neutrality as an aid to integration. “You can talk about quilts, pottery, or printing without getting people’s back up,” she explains.
Art also fosters integration by producing a visual model of racial integration. By including white students from the private academy and black students from the public schools, the Your Art Here project blended the students’ drawings to create a racially integrated vision of York. In addition, some of the artists who work in York create art which “is all about embracing the larger community, breaking down invisible barriers and color lines.”

Thus, art in York can provide residents with new visions and ideas. Carey states that artists “show others a different way of seeing the world; their vision helps us broaden our horizons.” A Coleman Center board member adds that the meaning of “art is to provoke.” Saxton offers a summarizing statement:

"From school on into adulthood, most of the population [in York] remains segregated. Of course, it is not a forced segregation—it is a choice, and mostly people choose that way because they have never been given any other options. This is where I think the arts can play a role in helping with the race issue. Bringing artists into the community who are somewhat ‘alien’ immediately presents someone who is totally different than what the norm is in York. And I think artists, in the end ‘make things’ that are somehow telling of our world—so giving the citizens of York the opportunity to view works by these artists, also gives them new ideas and hopefully, new choices."