[piano intro] - [Voiceover] "Visibly Speaking" is a production of PBS North Carolina in association with the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

[orchestral music plays] - [Man] Most people don't know us and we have an important story that people wanna hear.

- [Woman] He knew that this was sacred ground.

- [Man 2] There's so much history here.

And if we don't capture, this would be lost history.

- [Woman 2] We held a dream of an actual public artwork on the site and ventured forth with a grant proposal.

- That was our first little pitch at this, to see if they would even consider us.

Well, guess what?

We got it.

We got it.

- [Man] If you are proud of something, make it big as you can wide as you can.

And as large as you can.

- [Woman] We're the only people who know our story.

No one can tell it the way we can.

- [Woman 2] This project brought together more folks of a united heart and desire than anything that I can remember 'cause art does do that.

[music fades] [upbeat music plays] ♪ - [Faustino] I always remember that we used to get up four o'clock in the morning.

As soon as you get off on the van, you gotta run to find you a seat.

So you gotta get up.

Yeah, you gotta run.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Okay.

What do you think?

It's cold.

Traditionally I am a painter.

Yeah, that is my hand.

That blue.

Yeah, I like that blue.

But as I kind of evolved my visual voice needed to kind of go where it led me.

I came into the migrant farm worker community as a co-director on the film "At a Strangers Table" The community was experiencing a lot of bullying.

So Amexican they were holding a community organized event to talk about kinds of challenges that were being faced.

- The association of Mexicans in North Carolina mission is to promote the active participation of the Mexican and Latino community through the areas of leadership, education, culture, advocacy, and binational programs.

- My husband attended that event and said, how can I help?

What can I do?

- [Maritza Betancourt] It was during a discussion with our Executive Director, Juvencio Rocha-Peralta, discussing the need to help them tell their own stories.

- [Sally Jacobs] My husband started this journey on "How can I access this invisible population?"

About a year later, I came into the picture, this grew into a family affair.

[bus engine starts] Following them over the course of really three years I started to become much more knowledgeable about what this workforce means and what they have to offer.

At the heart of that experience I kept noticing the bus.

In how they arrived to their job site, both in how they arrived to this country.

Their means for getting, when they can, into the community to shop.

But it also became like this invisible veil for how isolated and removed they are.

People didn't know, when they see a bus go down the road and the public school sign has been painted over, that's potentially carrying migrant farm workers.

Do you think that's okay that we don't know about this community?

They're in our backyard.

I kept coming back to this bus.

How can you tell the story of these migrant farm workers in Eastern North Carolina without the bus at the center and as a foundation of what this workforce does.

It just was like a light bulb went off.

When Z. Smith Reynolds grant came across my path.

And said let's go for it.

You know, let's just put it out there.

- [Maritza Betancourt] It was something that was brought to Amexican by Scott and Sally and we decided to apply.

Part of the decision process for us is that we were gonna be working with a foundation that we trust.

We had to partner with someone that had the dedication and enthusiasm - Kind of it's an art project and it's- It's not being used to transport kids or be a part of any school.

Are they both the same height?

And the both... - We're gonna remove the seats.

- The seats are in good shape.

- [Sally Jacobs] When Z. Smith Reynolds chose us as one of the 10 recipients for this grant- Art section and the community section, I just cried.

It's cool.

I'm seeing it.

I'm seeing it.

The bus is now the vehicle for this voice.

[upbeat music plays] It's amazing how these things are repurposed.

The intent of that bus is no longer a school bus and each way configured in the very need that serves that harvest.

- [Faustino] Jose, he say, we gonna go work on the bus but I never see this coming, you know?

[laughs] - It's about the Familia todos Like a little library.

This project is a public inclusive work of art.

So a lot of the things that came out visually for how this was gonna look came from community engagement.

How can people taste it?

How can they touch it?

We just started playing around with, you know if we could put patterns that maybe are inspired by indigenous cultures.

- When now I see a bus with people, I was like, I used to drive one of those and I know how it feels.

Out there in the field.

there were a lot of people from everywhere so they gonna be represented and I'm more excited to be contributing.

- So where would you see like the community board going?

And then this is kind of- - On the outside.

- Okay.

That's cool.

And there's no wrong answer.

- [Sally Jacobs] Conversation started, it got people from all different cross sections in all different communities to start talking about farming and labor, race.

Knowing that this is so layered and so complicated to tell having video as a component was gonna be inevitable.

Maybe this could be an opportunity for not only people visiting the bus to hear their stories but for them to also leave their story.

To have a library resource section, to have this community engagement piece, to have an art making concept studio for freedom of expression.

So whatever decisions we make has to come back to "Is this gonna contribute to their voice?"

- [Faustino] It's hard 'cause you left everything to come over here.

You be alone.

- [Sally Jacobs] A migrant farmer is those that come to harvest our food.

- [Maritza Betancourt] They received an H-2A visa, which is a temporary working visa.

Most of the time, they're here for about six months and then they return home until the next season begins.

- [Faustino] Hard for every Mexican that work on the field especially in the heat in summertime.

What they would do here is try to make a living.

They had no opportunity in Mexico.

This one of the reasons that we come to United States to work on the farms.

[leaves rustling] - Well, my mom said, "Now, now I'm stopping you right here.

This bus thing has gone far enough.

You can't get a bus driver's license."

[engine starts] "You can't drive a bus.

You're not big enough."

And I'm like, "What did you just say to me?"

I've had people that say, "This is kind of a cool idea.

This is interesting.

Is this bus going to like, really travel?"

What we hope is it's gonna roll in and out of the camps, it's gonna roll to schools and churches and nonprofits.

And I'm getting good at my breaks.

Look at that, nice.

I want people to know that, no, it's not a project.

It's not a museum.

It's not an event.

It is a work of art.

You know, the very definition of what a work of art is.

It's intent has changed to open up our eyes to allow people to see things in a whole new way.

[gentle music plays] Knowing that we needed to put a face to this project.

We were gonna use portraits.

- Maybe pull it down a little bit.

- [Sally Jacobs] But also scenes of what the fields look like and what they're doing in those fields.

80 pounds maybe.

- Wow.

- Buckets are 40, so - Mhm - you'd see him in the field with the others, you know putting potatoes in his bucket for him - [Man] His name's Enrique.

- It humanizes.

- Yeah, it really personalizes - [Faustino] I got my grandfather, he was taking me to the field.

He's the one who teach me how to work.

I learn how to work hard.

Yeah.

Thanks him.

I haven't seen him since I left Mexico.

- [Interviewer] Is it hard to be separated?

- Oh yeah.

It's been 20, almost 24 years.

- [Maritza Betancourt] Our Lady of Guadalupe kept coming up as a cultural symbol.

Gosh, you know maybe this should be something we should include.

How are we gonna do that?

The community chose to have her as not only a symbol of strength and fortitude, but that she'd be focused on the front hood that she lead the way.

One woman, she's at one of the events she's like, "You don't have any photos of any women" you know, where are the women?

A lot of 'em are left behind.

This is Paula.

Yep.

Paula started out in the fields 15 years ago and is now providing the meals taking them out to the fields for the workers for lunch and for dinner.

40 to 60 men, she cooks for twice a day, by herself.

And then she has three kids and they come after school to help her mom.

Every day they're in different fields.

So she has to, you know, coordinate.

Where are they today?

Flips up the back lid.

Her truck really becomes a restaurant.

She's one of the most vulnerable.

When the workers don't get paid, she doesn't get paid.

[speaking in Spanish] - [Faustino] Sometimes, you think about, go back to Mexico.

But like me right now, I got two kids, I gotta look out for them.

- [Sally Jacobs] Those are the intangible things.

You know the abstract things that people really don't even consider.

There's a lot of sacrifices that come for us to have food on our table.

[bus breaking] - Can we get up higher?

- Yeah.

- If you all wanna join in we're gonna kind of join in the center here.

- Come this way.

- Vamos, aqui.

- Come this way.

- So this project looks like a school bus right now but I actually like to think of it as a living sculpture.

It is going to evolve over time.

- [Woman] Sherry, raise your hand.

- It is the first official on the road opportunity with all the parts in place.

- I'll get you started.

Think you'll continue?

- [Woman] So I'm gonna show you how to do that.

- [Sally Jacobs] So today's event is bringing together two elementary schools to talk about and have part in this larger conversation around who harvests our food, how it's harvested.

- [Man] Mateo, potato.

- [Child] They look like onions.

- We wanted them to have a voice in the evolution of what this bus is gonna look like.

It's about the process and that they felt included and they were a part of it and they had fun and they made connections and they made friends.

And the thinking about the bigger voice that this bus carries.

This is our generation that need to have an opportunity to come together.

There's so much power in that.

- [Migrant Woman] They can judge us for being dirty.

We're dirty because we're close to God because we're putting food on the table of hundreds of thousands of people.

- [Teacher] What do you tell them for coming?

- Thank you guys.

- Gracias.

- [Teacher] All right.

If you are an elephante, go with Ms. Brown.

If you are Leon, go with Ms. Ordonez.

- [Sally Jacobs] End of that morning we had this boy, you know, come up.

- Gracias!

- [Sally Jacobs] He has been waiting to tell this to somebody.

He just started in with his story about his Papa, "Mi papa."

[boy speaking in Spanish] - [Sally Jacobs] He was brought to the fields in 2012 and that was the year he was born.

And he's proud of his dad.

And his dad is very intelligent because he works hard.

You know, I could see the pride.

I could see the sparkle in his eye.

[boy speaks in Spanish] - [Sally Jacobs] You know, to have him be validated by his peers by his own generation.

[girl speaks in Spanish] To not live in isolation not live in fear and not live marginalized.

and from a place of embarrassment.

I just had to pull in.

I just had to pull in and people came together.

It was a memory that plants a seed that then can be fertilized and the bus is gonna keep fertilizing.

Right?

And that's the power of this project.

Thank God for Z. Smith Reynolds that took the risk in us.

As a middle aged woman artist.

It gave me hope that my idea is valid.

Yeah, this is important.

This matters.

Just up here on the right.

Its home is gonna reside at Alice Keene Park in Greenville, North Carolina, thanks to Alice Keene for going to the chamber and reaching out to her stakeholders and saying that this is important.

And that we need to include this voice in this community.

It is going to be right across the street from the farmer's museum, the farmer's market.

You know, now we have an inclusive narrative.

Children will come across that street and they will get on the bus and learn about not only how food is harvested but who harvests our food.

- [Faustino] I'm so excited for the people that out there working hard.

I want to imagine some people they can see their face on this bus, like through pictures, videos they can be so proud of themselves 'cause this bus for them.

- It's still a choice.

But if you get on the bus, you're in the conversation.

And there's been a lot of people on the bus.

[gentle music plays] [inspiring music plays] ♪ - [Man] It was history before it was history.

It was a story before it was a story and it stands today as a legacy.

It stands today as a monument it stands today as something to reach for.

- I learned that I know nothing about the city I live in.

I lived here my whole life and nobody mentioned this Black hospital.

It was interesting that a city so small could have history that meant so much to people, but it's almost completely silent.

And I don't think a lot of people in my generation that live here really know much about it.

- The Kate Bitting Reynolds Memorial Hospital Community.

A very good story, a very interesting story.

- It changed the community.

It didn't just change the lives of nurses.

It changed the lives of the residents that came from the area that rotated through that facility.

- I think I'd always been called to be a nurse.

I think nursing is a called profession.

And I'd always taken care of sick people.

Pretty much all my life.

- The historical value is soul shattering.

When I got all of the pictures together and I laid them out and I was looking at them I felt so responsible because I'm looking at again, not only their story, but I'm looking at my story as well.

And it made me very proud to be an African American.

- The Z. Smith Reynolds foundation announced that they were interested in untold stories.

We had several sessions with the community to investigate the history of Winston-Salem and who was connected.

We focused in on the story of the Katie B Reynolds Hospital.

And then we began to design the mural based on that story, that this piece, which is about health in our community's past, can become a tool to build the health and equity in our community in the future.

- The hospital came about because of the RJ Reynolds tobacco company.

A lot of people think that it was the wife of RJ Reynolds who donated money to build a hospital that she always felt the black community needed.

Because of this influx of people moving in from all these different places to work in the tobacco company, they need their own hospital.

And so they built this hospital to service the black community.

- I was one of the people that had polio as a child.

So I was in the hospital a few times and actually I came to Katie B. I knew then as soon as I walked in the hospital that that's what I wanted to do.

- It was a wonderful thing because Katie B Hospital was a place where you had these Black doctors and these Black nurses and these Black administrators, they all came together and became a hub where the community connected.

- What I'm doing right now for the project is to catch some of the candidates for the Katie B Memorial Hospital.

The nurses that were here that we can use for the website.

What I'm looking for now as a visual artist is the stories of the peoples in their faces.

So that when the residents up East would look up at those people, they can see themselves.

- I was so interested in becoming a nurse even from the age of six, when my mom was very ill and I would visit with her frequently at a hospital.

- This project is important because it shines a light on the communities who were once the backbone of the economic growth of Winston-Salem.

It reminds us that there was a thriving community of people who had all the opportunities to become successful, to grow their communities.

[contemplative music plays] - Even though the hospital itself is not in operation anymore, the spirit still lives and you can see it.

It just makes me feel good to see that people are still doing this.

They're still getting together.

Yes, the hospital is gone, but I was a part of that.

And I still see it.

- There's so much history here in Winston, Salem as far as African Americans.

And if we don't capture and save these photographs this will be lost history.

- I was a girl who took care of her father when there was no hospital available for my father doing a pneumonia episode.

My dad was hallucinating and expected to die.

Withered up.

And I sat with him day and night, but you know, he got better.

And I thought it was because of me.

And I thought, that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna help really sick people.

I'm gonna stay with them and do that for 'em.

- Having the history told because if you don't tell it, you won't know it.

And it's important for individuals across the community across the world to know what our history has been here in Winston, Salem - Everything done in that hospital was done by people that look like me.

And we have a whole generation of people, young adults, that have no clue.

That's what I'm hoping this will do.

It will bridge a big gap of two histories, then and now.

And would bring it together.

- When I came upon this project, it just reminded me that God is good and he's good all the time.

And sometimes he'll throw you a bone.

Katie B is one of those bones.

- It's very important to preserve this history, because as a people, it helps us to come together, all people, to understand the history of our community.

Kate Bitting left a legacy that if you put an effort and try to get something done, that it can be done.

- A friend of mine years and years ago, he said "If you are proud of something make it big as you can, wide as you can, and as large as you can."

Those murals of those particular individual women are murals that I want people to look at them larger than life.

'Cause I want your hopes about who you can be and what you want to be to be larger than life.

- This is a forget me not, I am worthy of being remembered in the many forms I came.

So remember the mark I left and draw another, and one more after that.

Frame my picture because my children and my children's children's children need to know to remember the soils that which the flower blooms the hands that sculpt the clay.

Play the rhythm of time and you'll find exactly what I say.

See the notes.

I leave those as breadcrumbs to show you your people made away.

Do not fold the corners of the pieces that shape you Un-crease the corners to discover the different shapes the same, a same that similarly makes you.

Life carries on through you.

And one day you will say your forget-me-nots too.

To say I am worthy of being remembered in the many forms I came.

So remember the mark I left and draw another and one more after that.

[music fades] [mellow music plays] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Voiceover] "Visibly Speaking" is a production of PBS North Carolina in association with the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

[mellow music]