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Nearly a decade after the death of Durham dancer and choreographer Baba Chuck Davis, supporters are pushing an effort to name the city’s Five Points plaza in his honor.
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Artist Jim Lee and writer/ dancer Linda Belans are leading the campaign, which has been endorsed by the Durham Cultural Advisory Board. They say the plaza’s location on West Main Street near the Durham Arts Council, where Davis had offices and a studio, makes it a fitting place to honor a man whose work brought together dance, education and community.
Baba Chuck Davis, born in Raleigh as Charles R. Davis, founded the Chuck Davis Dance Company in New York in the 1960s, Dance Africa in 1977 and the African American Dance Ensemble in 1983. Adding the endearing title “baba,” meaning “father,” to his name, Davis dedicated his life and career to bridging communities through his art.
Despite his local and global impact before his death in 2017 at 80 years old, organizers say the city has yet to secure his legacy with a major public tribute.
“We need something that represents community in a way that Chuck represented community,” Lee told The News & Observer. “A public gathering place seemed to be the appropriate location. Let’s meet at Chuck Davis Plaza.”
Standing 6-foot-5, Davis became an internationally recognized teacher, choreographer and ambassador for African and African American dance. He would be seen around the Bull City in colorful West African robes and attire and would give big hugs and smiles to anyone he met.
“He tucked hundreds of thousands of people under his wings through his incredible generosity of spirit,” Belans said. “I also got tucked under his wings.”
In addition to his dance companies, he taught at Duke University and the American Dance Festival, and visited classes throughout Durham Public Schools. Davis also hosted the ensemble’s Durham-based Kwanzaa festival for 30 years, which takes place every year on Jan. 1, the final day of the holiday and Davis’ birthday.
In 2001, the Washington Post wrote that Davis’ “vast knowledge of dance and music from the African continent has helped make African dance part of the American cultural landscape.” He was later recognized by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C., among other honors.
Angeloe Burch, the current president of the African American Dance Ensemble, was connected to Davis and the ensemble through his sister, Ivy Burch, one of its founding members in the 1980s.
“He was a dancer for peace,” Burch said. “That was the moniker he gave himself, and he earned it as well. He went places that most Black artists could not go, and he came up in a time when a lot of Black artists were not accepted. Through the 1960s and all, he made it through.”
One of the most memorable phrases Davis used to quiet an audience was a traditional West African call-and-response: “Ago, Ame.” The call, Ago, means “may I speak?” or “excuse me,” while the response means, “you have my attention” or “I hear you.”
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“He called himself an ‘edu-tainer,’ which is exactly what Baba Chuck was,” Belans said. “You can go anywhere on this globe and say, ‘Ago,’ and the answer will be, ‘Ame.’”
Katie Wyatt, director of the Durham Arts Council, supports efforts to naming the Five Points plaza. Davis and the African American Dance Ensemble used to rehearse in the arts council’s building.
“I would see him and the ensemble. He was just such a light of positivity all the time. It didn’t matter whether you were having a good day or a medium day or a bad day,” Wyatt said. “He was always such a life force and really a beacon for the arts community.”
Once, Wyatt said, she stopped to watch a rehearsal while wearing high heels after working. Davis called her into the studio to dance.
“’If you’re looking, you’re participating,’” Wyatt recalled Davis saying. She took off her shoes and joined the dancers for exercises. “The idea of naming the Five Points plaza after him, now that I’m describing him, is that the plaza, connecting these five roads and being a focal point, is beautiful. What a beautiful visualization of him bringing threads together and being at the center of many streams.”
Lee and Belans began the process of renaming the plaza in 2024. So far, about 100 people have signed a petition that is now available on Change.org. They have a goal of 2,000 signatures.
To change the name of a public plaza in Durham, residents go through an administrative process with the Durham Planning Department and the Durham City Council.
Lee said the campaign seeks to honor a man who was larger than life.
“If people are reading this, they can certainly get in touch with any council person or officials they know and ask about it,” Lee said. “We should never underestimate the impact of one individual speaking to a public official they know about a specific issue.”
Belans said the organizers envision a public space animated by Davis’ philosophy of “Peace, Love, Respect for Everybody.” They imagine drumming, dancing, singing and gatherings that bring people together across differences.
She also connected Davis’ message to those who already spend time in the plaza, including people experiencing homelessness.
“The only time we look down on someone is when we reach to pull them up,” Belans recalled Davis saying. “When we look around Durham, we have homelessness. We have people who hang out in the plaza because they have nowhere else to be. That space, within view of where his offices and studio were housed, blessed by the people he inspired over a lifetime would take care of itself with how it would be used for community.”
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