New Images of Resistance Reveal Contemporary Resignation

Let Your Motto Be Resistance is an exhibition of 68 photographs from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, which opened Friday at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. This inaugural exhibition of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is the first ever collaboration between the Freedom Center and the Smithsonian.

The title of the show comes from the1843 "An Address to the Slaves of the United States" by the abolitionist, Henry Highland Garnet. The premise of the exhibition is to present a more contemporary definition of "resistance." NURFC curator, Dina Bailey, correctly suggests when we think of resistance we think of images of violence or protests. Instead, many of the photographs in this show are of well-known (if not by face, by name) individuals who embraced Garnet's plea. Familiar names include Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Ella Fitzgerald, and Amira Baraka. The photographs are arranged around a stark white gallery and grouped in 3 categories: "Activists," "Performers and Athletes," and "Writers and Intellectuals." Each category is labeled with an explanation or definition of the category of resistance. Each photograph is labeled with an introduction to the individual, their challenges, and successful resistance.

What's most successful about the exhibition is that no matter how familiar the viewer may be of the subjects, the viewer may be surprised to learn the stories of resistance. While we can accept Ali as "The Greatest" and may see Lena Horne as one of Hollywood's most beautiful celebrities, their gifts did not protect them racism. Each of the individuals featured in Let Your Motto Be Resistance faced injustice

Unlike Without Sanctuary, these are not difficult pictures to view. The portraits are rather idealized and in some cases glamorize the individual. In fact, they look much like promotional shots of each of the individuals. The viewer must read the labels to learn and understand these as examples of resistance. And here may be where the Smithsonian exhibit may run into a problem.

Directors of the collaborating museums claim the following:

“As we examined the photographs that comprise this exhibition, it was clear that they revealed, reflected and illuminated the variety of creative and courageous ways that African Americans resisted, accommodated, redefined and struggled in an America that needed, but rarely embraced and accepted its black citizens,” said Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Powerful in its depiction of African American resistance, this exhibition speaks on a global level,” says Freedom Center CEO Donald W. Murphy.

While I agree the lives of the individuals depicted in the exhibition represent courage almost impossible to measure, the photographs themselves do not represent this at all. These photographs do not tell the story of resistance. These are beautiful photographs of successful people, most of whom are recognizable celebrities. What is creative is the way this inaugural exhibition of Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture tries to redefine images of 150 years of African American resistance in the U.S. Not included are photographs of actual resistance.

The exhibition goal to present new or more diverse images of resistance seems to flirt with rewriting of history of racism and failing to acknowledge contemporary racist tendencies. Bailey admits when she initially saw the collection group Muhammad Ali with the Activists, she thought it best to present him with the other athletes. Despite Ali's resistance to the Vietnam War and the anger people had toward him and Muslims, the curator felt this current grouping was more in line with how people think about Ali today. Further, within moments of entering the gallery, I noticed the largest of the categories was "Performers and Athletes." The smallest, "Writers and Intellectuals."

In the past few years speech writers and others have quickly adopted the saying "A Time to Move Forward." This contemporary motto has been embraced as an anti-historical approach to the most challenging issues. It permits us to wipe our slates clean and ignore our past wrongdoings. The Smithsonian is known for painting a pretty picture on our past. Unless the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center works hard to create programming courageous enough to honestly reveal and celebrate historical and contemporary acts of resistance, Henry Highland Garnet's call will not be heard.

Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will be on view until June 19.

Have You Seen The Freedom Center Berlin Wall Monument?

Last summer is such a blur. With the ending of the school year, our kids happily retook command of our home and attention. This is my only excuse for not being aware of this permanent installation of a section of the Berlin Wall on the southwest lawn of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The fact the sites surrounding the NURFC seem to be under perpetual construction may have also contributed to my not noticing it.

This section of the Berlin Wall, a gift of the City of Berlin, honors those, past and present, who have died seeking freedom without walls. The wall was installed on June 23, 2010 and dedicated on July 3, 2010 at the Freedom Without Walls Dedication Celebration.

The dedication plaque reads:

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center stands as a beacon in the world, inspiring courage, cooperation, and perseverance in all global citizens. The City of Cincinnati and the Munich Sister Cities Association in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the relationship between Munich and Cincinnati, worked with the Freedom Center to commemorate the past while committing to a future where freedom is a basic right. Through the 2010 installation of Cincinnati's segment of the Berlin Wall, we bear witness to this symbol of the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

Berlin Wall Partnership:
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Munich Sister City Association
City of Cincinnati
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory
Cincinnati USA Sister City Association
Berlin Regierender Bürgermeister Klaus Wowereit
Munich Oberbürgermeister Christian Ude
Honorary Consul of Germany Richard E. Schade

Cincinnati needs more public sculpture and opportunities like this to make note of monuments to our history. Next time you are downtown be sure to stop and notice this historical marker of freedom.

Brag About Your Connection to the Underground Railroad

I visited Ripley, OH this morning for a meeting at the John Parker House. The drive on OH 52 along the Ohio River was a nice one and a number of our hosts encouraged us to return in the fall with the changing colors of the leaves.

The small brick house museum was once the home of former slave and inventor, John Parker. After buying his freedom, Parker earned a number of patents, including one for a tobacco press. Besides some of the often-told slave stories like learning to read and his father owning and selling him and his mother, the inventor was obviously very detail-oriented. He kept very good records. Presumably they were so good that Parker decided to destroy many of them for fear some of the slaves he helped would be traced back to him. He also never liked having his picture taken for fear his image would end up on "Wanted" posters. Of course this makes for a very difficult job of constructing Parker's history. The house museum currently hangs an empty frame over the fireplace, hoping a picture can be found and confirmed. (Of the number of labels hanging on the wall, there is one picture of an African American man in reproduced newspaper clipping that may be him, but it's not yet been confirmed.)

Other visual elements include recently commissioned paintings depicting defining moments in Parker's life. These paintings, while meant to depict Parker (though we do not know what he looks like), the stories are couched in again often-told slave stories and meant to re-tell a story of The Underground Railroad. Yes, The John Parker Museum is another museum that boasts a link to the abolition of slavery and The Underground Railroad. Perhaps because I live in Ohio, it seems as though there are so many places that share this history. Of course there is The Freedom Center, but I've seen others.

While the Museum Center is currently celebrating African American history with America I Am, I'm asking you to name places, museums, collections, paintings, sculptures or other things you've seen that boasts a link to African American History.

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Summer in Cincinnati: Art Histories American Style

With three arts and cultural institutions in Cincinnati opening summer shows presenting American histories of art, the Queen City may be the best summer "staycation" destination in the country.

The Cincinnati Art Museum is devoting its summer to Americana with See America: 9 Views of America. The museum describes these special exhibitions as "a visual road trip through the human and natural landscapes of this great country." The summer is really packed with so much great programming for the whole family. I don't often visit an exhibit more than two times, but I've been there twice already and looking forward to bringing my children later this week.

This week, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will open Textural Rhythms: Constructing the Jazz Tradition. This exhibition combines the the art traditions of quilting and jazz. I am excited to have been invited to the opening gala this evening and look forward to reviewing it soon.

And opening later this week, the Museum Center's America, I Am: The African American Imprint covers five centuries of African American history through rare artifacts from all over the world. I saw an webinar preview of this exhibit a little over a week ago and excited to see an exhibit that seeks to present a comprehensive African American history by employing so many arts and cultural elements we may otherwise ignore as integral to Americana. This exhibit too, I plan to review more fully in the coming weeks.

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