Youth Document Durham
Center for Documentary Studies

Ivy McCreary practices interviewing.

Photo: Luis Velasco

The documentary process is a powerful way to capture the story of an issue, an era, or a community. What happens when documentary tools—oral history, research, interviewing, recording, writing, photography, and threedimensional design—are put in the hands of youth? What kinds of stories do they tell? What do the young documentarians learn from the process itself?

Believing that young people can make valuable contributions to community dialogue, the organizers of Youth Document Durham set out to engage participants in documentary projects that amplify youth voices. The seven-year-old program is run by the Center for Documentary Studies, an affiliate of Duke University, and is dedicated to advancing documentary work that combines experiences and creativity with education and community life.

Youth Document Durham includes summer and after-school programs. The summer program is open to students across Durham County. Meeting daily for three weeks, participants work with folklorists, photographers, writers, and other artists. Teams of young people then fan out into the community to explore and document responses to various themes, developed by youth advisors. One group recently talked to community leaders about issues of race and produced a quilt filled with images of their responses. Another group used contemporary and historical photos to explore the history of Durham, specifically the way technology has changed Durham and peoples’ lives there. Another group explored the issue of teens and violence, and created a series of annotated postcards.

The after-school program, Durham Works, is conducted in collaboration with the City of Durham Parks and Recreation Department, community organizations, and Durham County 21st Century Learning Centers. The program’s goal is to use the humanities and arts to help participants “understand what it takes to get certain jobs and what it takes to be successful in those jobs,” says Program Director Barbara Lau. In each session, teams of students interview and photograph doctors, lawyers, sports figures, cosmetologists, and others, and create hand-made magazines from their research, portions of which are excerpted into a public exhibition.

“Youth Document Durham challenges teens to experience their communities as places of learning. This program gives young people essential tools for life,” summarizes E’Vonne Coleman-Rorie, assistant director for Duke University’s Office of Continuing Education.