Black history comes to the Gladish
Jan. 31—A cultural anthropologist and thespian has come to the Gladish Community and Cultural Center to tell the stories of African American people who contributed to the legacy of Martin Luther King.
The Terry Buffington Productions is presenting two showings at the Gladish during February, Black History Month. The first event will be dinner and a show featuring "Fundi: The Ella Baker Story" and an all-southern meal at 7 p.m. Friday. There will also be a stage reading featuring the "Eddie Brooks Tapes" and the "Terry Buffington Papers" on Feb. 17-19.
Cultural anthropologist Terry Buffington is most passionate about young people — "they're my heart," she said. She founded Terry Buffington Productions and the Terry Buffington Foundation in Pullman in 2022, and serves as the artistic director. Working alongside her son, assistant director Kwasi Buffington, Terry is working to educate the next generation about the Jim Crow Era.
"We are working toward a future and it's going to need a collective effort," Terry said. "Pacific Northwest citizens and youth need to understand the American south in the American civil rights movement, so we don't continue to repeat those same mistakes."
Terry and Kwasi lived in Mississippi until Kwasi was accepted to the University of Idaho's graduate program in 2017. They moved to Pullman and have stayed ever since. Kwasi graduated with an MFA in lighting design in 2020.
Terry is a sixth-generation Mississippian, born under the Jim Crow Era in West Point, Miss. She became an activist during the '60s when she was involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
"This woman is like living history," Kwasi said of Terry.
Graduating in 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed, Terry became active in the civil rights movement during the Freedom Summer Project. She worked with other activists to register African American voters in Mississippi.
"I was 27 before I could vote," Terry said. "One day, I went into the courthouse to register to vote, and at the time, I was married and had a young daughter. She wanted a drink of water and I had to tell my daughter we couldn't drink out of the water fountain because the water fountain was for white people. That was the intimidation and the trauma and the legacy of slavery, of how I had to dehumanize myself and my daughter."
Terry was the first student of color to enroll in and graduate with a liberal arts background in southern culture and history at the University of Mississippi in 1985. She then received a master's degree in student affairs administration at the University of Mississippi in 1991, and a master's in anthropology from the University of Memphis in 2001.
Being an anthropologist, Terry spent much of her life collecting materials and lived experiences from Black men from Mississippi who grew up during the civil rights movement. She collected newspaper clippings and media from 1952 to 2014, and accumulated tapes and transcripts documenting life and work in the 1950s through '70. Her collection features interviews she conducted with Eddie Brooks, and a scrapbook from her late husband highlighting the Oxford-Afro Cultural Center. She donated the Terry Buffington Papers to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2001, and continues to add to the collection.
The Terry Buffington Productions Black History Month series is inspired by the Terry Buffington Papers. The first production, "Fundi: The Ella Baker Story," will feature Ella Baker's life story and works as the "mother of the civil rights movement." The film will be followed by a southern-themed dinner featuring fried catfish, buttermilk fried chicken, collard greens and a black eyed pea salad. The show will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at the Gladish. Single tickets are $75 each; couples tickets are $155; and a group table of eight can be purchased at $400.
During the "Born Under Jim Crow" event, Terry and Kwasi will be reading the transcript of the "Eddie Brooks Tapes." Terry will also discuss the "Terry Buffington Papers" and first-hand experience growing up in the south during the Jim Crow Era. The show will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17; and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18; and 2 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Gladish. Tickets are $18 during the matinee showings and $20 for the evening productions.
"I want them to be inspired and see a lightbulb going off in their head," Terry said. "My objective is to reach young people, I want them to learn about American history and oppression that still impacts people today."
To learn more about the Terry Buffington Productions, visit their website at terrybuffingtonproductionsllc.com, and to learn more about the Terry Buffington Foundation, view their website at terrybuffington.com. To purchase tickets for upcoming productions, visit gladishcommunity.org/tickets.
Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.
