For 25 years, the Clarissa Street Reunion Committee (CSRC) has kept the memory of the Clarissa Street community alive with a street festival-style reunion, welcoming thousands of people each year. In 2019, Teen Empowerment hired a group of Youth History Ambassadors (YHAs) to work with the CSRC to capture oral histories. Together, “intergenerational history ambassadors”—TE youth and Clarissa St. elders—have worked with scholars to build an exhibit that uncovers how Rochester became what it is today.
The Clarissa Uprooted exhibit focuses on Clarissa Street, the once thriving African-American residential and business corridor in Rochester, NY’s Third Ward, known in part for its celebrated Pythodd Jazz Club. Humanities scholars have eagerly emerged from libraries, museums, and academia to assist in curating the exhibit. The youth and elders brought first-hand expertise and the archivists, historians, journalists, preservationists and scholars brought resources, and technology to design the museum-quality exhibit..
Experience the village online below. Encore version of Clarissa Uprooted coming soon to Rochester Public Library. TBA
The Clarissa Uprooted exhibit was heavily inspired by the success of the Clarissa Uprooted documentary. For the best experience, we encourage everyone to watch our 25 minute documentary Clarissa Uprooted: Youth and Elders Uncover the Story of Black Rochester for additional context before visiting the exhibit.
We highly encourage people of all ages to come see the exhibit in-person if they are able. In the case that you live too far from Rochester or would like to experience it again without leaving home, we have launched the exhibit in an online format as well. Explore the Clarissa Uprooted exhibit artifacts below, along with additional resources for further exploration.
If you enjoyed visiting the Clarissa Uprooted exhibit, please consider filling out our survey.
