This summer, Christ Church Neighborhood House pulls back the curtain on a lesser known history in the City of Brotherly Love. Christ Church has been conducting research to discover the lives and everyday acts of resilience and survival by Black people, both free and enslaved in Colonial Philadelphia. Many were buried on the grounds of Christ Church without headstones and this research is designed to shed light on who these people were. This research will culminate in On Buried Ground, an upcoming performance running during the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Part of the experience will also include an interactive art exhibit. Groundings: An Exhibition, an immersive experience, opens July 26 at 7 p.m. Through speculative storytelling and tangible peaks into the interior lives of some of these individuals portrayed in the On Buried Ground performance, visitors will deepen their experience of the ancestors called forth. The exhibit is in the first floor of Christ Church Neighborhood House.

The exhibit focuses on Alice of Dunk’s Ferry and the children buried at Christ Church. This is a multidisciplinary exhibition that leverages visual art, historical records, and storytelling to explore the known and unknown histories of Black congregants at Christ Church, including Alice of Dunk’s Ferry (1686 – 1802), who was a lifetime parishioner at Christ Church and a notable historian and storyteller. Visitors will peek into some of the individuals portrayed in the On Buried Ground performance, and thus deepen their experience of the ancestors called forth. This exhibit features original work by artists Misty Sol, Destiny Crockett, Theodore Harris, and Intisar Hamilton.

“The exhibit provides a multifaceted exploration of Black history in and around Christ Church, revealing narratives that have often been overlooked,” said the exhibit’s curator Malkia Okech. “Parishioners of Christ Church included both free and enslaved Black people who had complete and whole multifaceted lives.”

Audiences will encounter items from that time period. There will also be historical records, audio sensory experiences, and art that gives audiences an experience that makes the histories of the enslaved and free people of African descent in Philadelphia.

The On Buried Ground performance runs September 4-September 14, during the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Dance artist Shayla-Vie Jenkins and playwright Ang Bey have developed a piece of theatrical storytelling informed by the archival records and new scholarship.

“Christ Church is a microcosm of what we understand as Philadelphia history.,” said Okech. “Christ Church’s congregation included 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence and American Revolutionary War leaders. Attendees of Christ Church include George Washington, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin. At this same church the first Black Episcopal priest in America, Absalom Jones, was ordained. A source, from the Library of Congress claims that 25 percent of all free and enslaved Africans in Philadelphia were baptized at the church. On Buried Ground, both the performance and exhibit, bring Black life to the center of a typically overshadowed narrative.”

On Buried Ground is funded by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.