Proud Roots: The Fitzgerald Scent Installation
A living scent installation in Durham's Lakewood neighborhood, honoring the family who raised Pauli Murray.
Get involvedWho is there to nurture the nurturers?
Proud Roots is a community-created scent installation coming to the main median at Lakewood Shopping Center. NC native plants and plants of the Black Diaspora, chosen to tell a story you experience through your nose. Bilingual signage throughout. Free, public, and open every day.
Brought to you by Bright Black, a scent studio based in the Lakewood neighborhood of Durham. Funded by the City of Durham's Love Your Block program.
Pauli Murray's roots
Pauli Murray — lawyer, priest, poet, activist — was three years old when their mother died. An aunt, Pauline Fitzgerald Dame, took Pauli in and raised them. Pauli grew up in the home of grandparents Robert and Cornelia Fitzgerald. Robert came south after the Civil War to teach freed people to read. Cornelia was born into slavery and lived her whole life in dignity.
Those three people are the reason we have Pauli Murray. There is no statue of them. So we're planting one with a scent story.
Prep Day
Clearing and soil prep. No experience needed.
Planting Day
Two shifts. Plants go in the ground. Food after.
Opening Ceremony
Date coming soon.
Show up
Volunteer for prep day, planting day, or seasonal stewardship.
Bring something
Food, plants, mulch, tools, a truck.
Do something
Photography, design, horticultural know-how.
Give
Any amount helps close the gap between the grant and the full build.
Connect us
Intros to funders, nurseries, press, neighbors.
Want to support Proud Roots? Email Tiffany: tiffany@brightblackcandles.com
Proud Roots is brought to you by Bright Black.
We use scent to tell stories that would otherwise be lost.
tiffany@brightblackcandles.com