muthi reed & Sage Crump This zine is the culminating artifact from a five-month investigation addressing ROOTS mission for economic justice in the world and within the organization. We have included references and resources from three webinars in which we…
By Keryl McCord This keynote address was given by Keryl McCord at ROOTS Week 2019. Good Morning – thanks to my ROOTS family for the opportunity to be with you this morning. I’m excited, and a little nervous because…
ROOTS is Hiring: Part-Time Programs Associate Alternate ROOTS supports the creation and presentation of original art that is rooted in community, place, tradition, or spirit. We are a group of artists, and cultural organizers based in the U.S. South, creating…
Bail Reform: ROOTS Members Shifting Culture and Policy Returning from ROOTS Week, where we built our understanding of class and power, we wanted to share the work of members who are doing work around bail reform. For those who can…
YOU ARE ON NATIVE LAND. Poster series by Jessica Clark and Ashley Minner, 2018-19. By Ashley Minner Picture it: East Baltimore, 2005. It was a beautiful, late spring afternoon in Patterson Park. The sun was shining. It seemed like everyone…
2018 ROOTS Week UpROOTing Oppressions. Photo by Melisa Cardona Welcome to the 2019 model of Alternate ROOTS’ very own organically grown, custom-made anti-racism/anti-oppression workshop series. A team of ROOTS members has spent the last year designing this experience, building on…
As many of us celebrate our mothers and parents this weekend, we’re highlighting the efforts of ROOTS members who are working for better care for incarcerated mothers/parents and their children. Our members are leading a movement for dignity for incarcerated…
Bob Martin, Ezelle: Ballad of a Land Man. Photo: Melisa Cardona As a member-led arts and social justice organization, Alternate ROOTS is in a constant state of evolution – we are always working to deepen, expand, and improve our practices to better…
Like so many who knew and loved John O’Neal, our Alternate ROOTS family is grieving his passing. A ROOTS founder and elder, John’s legacy as a national treasure will be forever felt through his plays, stories, and the arts/activist organizations…
Executive Committee and staff after the “We Got Your Back” ceremony in March 2018, at Michelle Ramos’ first ExComm meeting. Michelle Ramos, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.” – Maya Angelou ROOTers we…
Alternate ROOTS’ members have been tirelessly working to shift culture, affect local policy, advocate for legislative change, and build people power leading up to tomorrow’s highly anticipated midterm election, and beyond. As we gear up to vote, we want to…
From ROOTS’ (Regional Organization of Theater South) founding at Highlander Research and Education Center in 1976, artists who were committed to justice, equity, and southern tradition remained to create what has evolved into Alternate ROOTS. As a coalition of cultural…
The UpROOTing Facilitator Team has compiled a list of selected resources to help ground you in some of the principles and learnings that have informed the content shared over the week as well as places for you to dig deeper…
Keryl McCord and MK Wegmann | July 31, 2018 Racism doubles or triples every other oppression. Racial classifications were invented by early naturalists and anthropologists in the 1700s and refined in the 1800s in the years leading up to the…
Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS’ Executive Director | July 19, 2018 One of Michelle Ramos’ first moves as ROOTS’ new executive director was to announce the #ROOTSRoadTrip – that she’d be packing her bags and hitting the road to meet ROOTers…
This year’s ROOTS artwork is a tribute to the Southern sculptor, artist, and educator Augusta Savage born in 1892 in Green Cove Springs near Jacksonville, Florida. Although I’ve grown up in Asheville, NC, I was born in Jacksonville, FL too.…
Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS’ Executive Director | July 12, 2018 One of Michelle Ramos’ first moves as ROOTS’ new executive director was to announce the #ROOTSRoadTrip – that she’d be packing her bags and hitting the road to meet ROOTers…
Michelle Ramos, Alternate ROOTS’ Executive Director | July 10, 2018 One of Michelle Ramos’ first moves as ROOTS’ new executive director was to announce the #ROOTSRoadTrip – that she’d be packing her bags and hitting the road to meet ROOTers…
A Southern based regional arts and social justice service organization with national reach, Alternate ROOTS’ role in cultural policy is to develop an understanding and awareness of regional and national social justice and arts policies that have implications for Alternate…
