For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights is the latest exhibition presented by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Curated by Maurice Berger, this exhibition is the first comprehensive examination of the importance and influence images played in the civil rights struggle.
Before entering the gallery space, you are instantly moved by the four stools and bar from the infamous Greensboro lunch counter. There are also theater performances throughout the day demonstrating the student sit-ins that occurred at the diner.
As you enter the exhibition you first see a video that shows the stereotypical roles that African-Americans played in early movies, the only roles that Hollywood executives allowed them to play. As you move through the gallery space you will see an evolution of the media portrayal of African-Americans that changed dramatically with their inception of and involvement in the Black Arts Movement. The goal of the movement was to produce imagery that represented the full complexity and humanity of a people and to make visible what had remained unseen and unknown by a large majority of America.
The exhibition covers a broad range of media from television and film to magazines and ephemera, and allows us to see and understand the vital role that visual culture played in forever changing a nation. Be advised that some of the images are graphic in nature, such as the battered and bloated body of Emmett Till.
The exhibition will be on view in the NMAAHC gallery at the National Museum of American History through November 27, 2011. The museum is located at 1400 Constitution Ave, NW. The regular hours of operation are 10am-5:30pm daily (extended summer hours: open most days till 7:30pm through Sept. 4). Contact the museum at (202) 633-1000 or visit the website www.si.edu for more information.
