Arts Residency with NC State Live!
Nationally recognized Triangle-based poet Dasan Ahanu will be in residence with NC State LIVE for the 2024-25 academic year. During his residency, Dasan will create a new work of theatre called Saints & Aints, which will premiere in the cutting-edge James B. Hunt Jr. Library – a place where Dasan often sits to write his poetry. Saints & Aints is part Sunday service reinterpretation, part juke joint reimagining and part underground dance club escapism. This work invites the audience into a communal celebration of life, faith, resiliency and Black joy.
Dasan Ahanu leads the reimagining of Discover Durham’s African American Heritage Guide
Check out the new guide here!
Black history lives and breathes in Durham. There’s no separating the contributions of Black Durhamites from the broader story of Durham – from the newly freed enslaved people who left Stagville Plantation and settled in what would become our city’s earliest neighborhoods, through the people and businesses that built Black Wall Street and the Hayti community to North Carolina Central University, the fight for civil rights, and the thriving arts and entrepreneurship community of today.
This guide invites you to explore our history and community. Get curious about how the past has shaped the present. Experience the culture, people and businesses that make Black Durham the vibrant place it is today.
This guide is a collaboration built by writers, poets, artists and storytellers in Durham’s Black community, led by poet, educator, community organizer and artist Dasan Ahanu. The printed guide is an important keepsake and handy introduction to Black Durham; our About the Guide page introduces you to those contributors and shares more of the guide’s stories in their words. We invite you to explore.