“New struggles for civil and race rights continue to challenge and mine the unequal fields of representation within American political life.” So writes author Jordan Amirkhani, who explored this exhibition earlier in 2016, and connected these studio portraits from the late 1800s to current images from the Black Lives Matter movement. Today from our archives we consider Black visibility in culture and history. This article was originally published on May[…..]

Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s current exhibition, Africa Forecast: Fashioning Contemporary Life, presents a small but dynamic assemblage of twenty designers and artists who blur the line between fine art and fashion from across the globe. Co-curated by Spelman Museum’s own Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee and Dr. Erika Dalya Massaquoi to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the institution, this exhibition embodies the curatorial commitments[…..]

Born on the Danish island colony of Saint Croix with two generations of slaves behind him, the champion heavyweight boxer Peter Jackson cuts a lean and noble figure in his 1889 photographic portrait, his top hat perched level upon his head, his elegant Victorian garments pressed, his stylish accoutrements placed as evidence of his social persona as a gentleman–dandy. The portrait was taken just a[…..]