Wistariahurst to Present ‘Black Holyoke: Uncovered Stories of the Fuller & Jarvis Families’
HOLYOKE — There is a nuance to the history of Holyoke, and much of the black history in the city has not been fully documented. One such history is the story of Bushman Fuller and his descendants. This is a tale that goes back further than the establishment of Holyoke as a city.
In an online talk on Wednesday, Feb. 23 from 2 to 3 p.m., scholar Erika Slocumb will tell the story of Bushman Fuller, William Jarvis, their families, and their contributions to the city of Holyoke. Register for this free event by clicking here in order to receive an invitation to the virtual event, which is presented by Wistariahurst Museum.
Slocumb is a mother, artist, and scholar-activist. She is a doctoral candidate in the W.E.B. DuBois Department at UMass Amherst. Her research, titled “Reliquary of Blackness,” focuses on the use of oral histories and community storytelling to retell, reshape, and reclaim history in spaces where black stories have been obscured, specifically reclaiming the narratives of blackness in museums and other repositories of history and culture. She has curated an exhibit on oral histories of the black community in Holyoke and continues to work toward collecting histories and artifacts of the community.
