Rembert Tells Co-op
Kids: Ditch The N Word

After traveling the country showing his unique folk art to students and gallery-goers, Winfred Rembert was finally invited to a hometown — and promptly issued a challenge.

The challenge: ​“Stop saying ​‘nigger’!”

Rembert issued that challenge to students during a visit Friday to Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School. The Newhallville artist — who perfected his colorful leather-carving art in obscurity for years until recently becoming a national phenom — conducted a morning workshop for 40 rapt students and teachers. (Click here, here, and here for previous stories about his remarkable journey.)

Winfred Rembert never had a real education and never was taught how to read or write. In his remarks at Co-op, he stressed the importance of education. He told the students how fortunate they should feel to be free to express their creativity through the arts in their daily lives.

But there’s one ​“freedom” that Rembert cautioned them not to pursue: to throw around ​“n” word. (Click on the video at the top of the story for a sample of his remarks.) He survived a chain gang and racist violence in the south before moving north to New Haven.

“Stop saying nigger,” Rembert urged them. ​“We need to stop it.”

There was silence in the room as Rembert repeated his personal plea. Then students and faculty nodded in agreement.

“Why would you want to use a word that degrades you down to nothing?! Why would you want to use that so casually, when people who died and are in their grave so you won’t be called a nigger? Gave up their lives for you?” Rembert said.

In all of the years that Rembert has lived in New Haven, he had never before been invited to a New Haven school to speak about his life and art. Rembert, who grew up working in the cotton fields, surviving a near-lynching, and serving seven years on a chain gang, expresses his experiences through leather carvings.

Rembert had always wanted to share his stories and work with students in New Haven. ​“You kids need to know your past, and what it took to be where you are today,” he said. ​“If you know the past of you and your people, then you can understand what it means to have a place like Co-op. A place to learn, and a school where art is one of the priorities — that’s just great!”

Rembert showed his work to the students and faculty only towards the end of the hour-long workshop. After delivering his plea he jovially signed autographs to the inspired and budding artists.

Click on the play arrows to watch a demonstration of Rembert at work in his Newhallville home and highlights of a recent New York tour.

Ariela Martin is a student at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School and a contributing reporter for the Independent.