The St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, Inc. (SJHF)

The St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation, Inc. (SJHF) founded in 1975, is an African American cultural and educational institution deeply rooted in the historic Hayti community of Durham, North Carolina. SJHF is dedicated to advancing cultural understanding through diverse programs that examine the experiences of Americans of African descent – locally, nationally and globally. The Foundation is committed to preserving, restoring and developing the Hayti Heritage Center, the former St. Joseph’s AME Church, a National Historic Landmark, as a cultural and economic anchor to the greater Durham community.

St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit, charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

The events in this section are not directly sponsored by the Hayti Heritage Center or the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation. The Hayti Heritage Center services the community as a rental facility providing space for various events throughout the year. Although the events in this section are not directly sponsored by the Hayti Heritage Center or the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, we assist in promoting them in an effort to support other local organizations and to help spread the word about all of the wonderful things going on here in Durham.


Bull City Soul Revival

ABOUT BULL CITY SOUL REVIVAL

The Bull City Soul Revival (B.C.S.R.) is a community-based, ad-hoc collaborative initiative comprised of Durham County Library, St. Joseph Historic Foundation, Carolina Soul, North Carolina Central University, Duke University, North Carolina State University and the Durham Jazz Renaissance Foundation, Triangle Virtual Media, whose primary purpose is to host an educational, interactive performance, community colloquium in 2012 highlighting the rich musical legacy of Durham’s rhythm and blues tradition.

UPCOMING EVENTS

THE TOASTS AND THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY
Thursday, April 12, 7 p.m.
Stanford L. Warren Branch, 1201 Fayetteville St., Durham
This event is free & open to the public.

Join Dr. Bruce Bridges for a performance and lecture on the Signifying Monkey, Toasts and the Humor Tradition in African-American Music. The term “Signifying Monkey” comes from a folk trickster figure said to have originated during slavery. In most narratives, the monkey dupes a powerful lion

by “signifying”: employing a speech pattern using connotative, contextbound words, the significance of which are accessible only to those who share unique and cultural values. In Henry Louis Gates’ highly influential book, The Signifying Monkey, Gates expands the term to refer not merely to a specific vernacular strategy, but also to a trope of double-voiced repetition and reversal that exemplifies a distinguishing property of African- American discourse.

Bruce Bridges is a life-long resident of Durham, North Carolina. Bridges received degrees from North Carolina Central University and University of Cincinnati, and received a Ph.D in African History from the University of West lndies. Bridges has taught at Saint Augustine’s College, North Carolina Central University and North Carolina State University. Founder and owner of the Know Book Store, Dr. Bridges is the author of The Ghetto Mind and The Roots of Geography.

SOUL SOUVENIRS EXHIBIT OPENING: DURHAM’S MUSICAL MEMORIES FROM THE 1960s AND 1970s
Thursday, April 19, 7 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: April 19-May 31, 2012
Upper Lydia Moore Merrick Gallery (2nd Floor)
This event is free & open to the public.

For the opening of the BCSR Soul Souvenirs exhibit, Jason Perlmutter, discographer, researcher and founder of Carolina Soul, will moderate a panel discussion on Durham’s soul music of the 1960s and 1970s featuring several representatives of the local scene. Hosted by St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation: Hayti Heritage Center.

Jason Perlmutter is a collector and researcher of local music of the Carolinas.  In 2005, he founded the Carolina Soul website as a home for discography and articles on soul recordings from North and South Carolina. In 2006 and 2007, Perlmutter compiled Carolina Funk for Jazzman Records in the United Kingdom; the album was subsequently issued in the United States by Now-Again Records of California. More recently Perlmutter co-founded the local record label Paradise of Bachelors, consulted for the North Carolina Arts Council’s African-American Music Trail initiative and delivered lectures on Carolina Soul at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh.

BULL CITY SOUL REVIVAL CONCERT & TRIBUTE
Friday, April 27, 7 p.m.
This event is free & open to the public.

This musical tribute is the grand finale of a month-long celebration of Durham’s rich legacy as an epicenter of soul music. Dr. Mark Anthony Neal will host an interactive and historical journey in the form of a documentary film, produced by Jaisun McMillian and Victor Stone of Triangle Virtual Media. The film will pay tribute to Bull City Soul using archival interviews, oral histories and photography. Johnny White & The Elite Band, Lady Jaisun of The Risse Band, The Beast, Apple Juice Kid and The Black Experience close the evening with performances both remixing the past and representing the future of Durham’s soul renaissance. Hosted by St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation: Hayti Heritage Center.

For more information: bullcitysoulrevival.org/ or www.durhamcountylibrary.org/bcsr.php

This program is sponsored by: Carolina Soul, City of Durham Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Duke University, Durham County Library, Durham Jazz Renaissance Foundation, Durham Library Foundation, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina Humanities Council, Parrish Street Advocacy Group, Show Tranz, Triangle Virtual Media, St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation, Inc.