Durham, North Carolina
Ray Lansing, center, is a regular at Blackspace's cypher in downtown Durham. Blackspace exists to "offer Black and Brown youth a breathing space to manifest their dreams by any medium necessary“ as explained on their website. "The cypher, for me, is like a throwback to Congo Square in New Orleans,” says Blackspace founder Pierce Freelon. During the 19th century, enslaved Africans, along with free blacks, gathered at Congo Square each Sunday to dance, play music, and conduct business. “The cypher is part of that ancestral legacy,” Freelon says. “We are communal, we are loud, and we are creating that lifeblood that has defined the city.”