Students Learn about gratitude, permission, humility and respect in Farmworkers in NC (DOCST 332S)

Gratitude. Permission. Humility. Respect. Farmworkers in North Carolina: Roots of Poverty, Roots of Change (DOCST 332S), a service-learning course taught this semester by Professor Charlie Thompson, consciously maintains these four themes surrounding our relationship to farmworkers’ past, present, and future as Duke students. By taking field trips to the Duke Farm, Duke Homestead, the Stagville Plantation, and more, this small group of cultural anthropologists and documentarians-in-training gain perspective on the lives, hardships, and contributions of farmworkers throughout North Carolina and its history.

The culmination of experiential learning and historical review of the realities and implications of farm work for the Black, Native, and Hispanic communities in NC will take the form of a mural commemorating these groups planned, painted, and presented by students in collaboration with local artist and former farmworker, Cornelio Campos.