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REVISIT/REIMAGINE The Civil Rights Era in Maryland and Parallels of Today Exhibition

FEBRUARY 24, 2024 – JANUARY 4, 2025
GUEST CURATOR: THOMAS JAMES

  • ‘REVISIT/REIMAGINE: The Civil Rights Era in Maryland and the Parallels of Today’
  • Gloria Richardson (right), civil rights activist known as the leader of the Cambridge movement in the early 1960s in Cambridge, Maryland | Courtesy Afro Charities
  • View the full live stream of the powerful lecture, conversation, and archive activity led by artist Jason Patterson and REVISIT/REIMAGINE guest curator Thomas James on our YouTube page!
  • REVISIT/REIMAGINE Guest Curator Thomas James speaks at an event at the museum.
  • Virtual discussion, Revisiting the Archives, occurred on Thursday, June 27th.
  • REVISIT/REIMAGINE Summer Film Festival was held on July 20th
With 2024 being the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture (MCAAHC) and Banneker-Douglass Museum are declaring 2024 as “Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights” with exciting and relevant programming, exhibitions, and partnerships to commemorate the milestone year of this groundbreaking legislation.

REVISIT/REIMAGINE: The Civil Rights Era in Maryland and Parallels of Today remembers the legacies of civil rights leaders and their effect on Black Marylanders and the United States in totality. In collaboration with Afro Charities, images of nationally and locally recognized civil rights leaders from the AFRO American Newspapers archives will be on display accompanied by the work of contemporary artists living and working in the Maryland area. 

Exhibiting Artists: Quinci Baker, Sanah Brown Bowers, Schroeder Cherry, Shaunte Gates, Kyle Hackett, Jeffrey Kent, Lex Marie, Murjoni Merriweather, Jason Patterson, Ernest Shaw, Victoria Walton, Lionel Fraizer White, and Redeat Wondemu.

Curated by Thomas James, the exhibition space will be designed to emulate that of an interior home space with books, records, and other objects scattered throughout. This layout will serve as a visual representation of intergenerational relationships and how the issues of civil rights have transformed, progressed, and regressed throughout the 60 years between the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and our current existence today. Much like the civil rights leaders of the 1960s, artists today are utilizing their artistic practices to raise awareness, and drive commentary and conversation around topics such as education inequities, race-based violence, and unjust treatment from governmental entities. Additionally, the contemporary works in this exhibition amplify issues of today including disability justice, technological surveillance, and the relationship between spirituality and trauma.

REVISIT/REIMAGINE also serves as a coming together of a future these civil rights leaders dreamed of. Their progress laid the groundwork for the leaders of today to continue to fight for rights today and continue to caretake for one another. This exhibition also displays artwork of positive self-image, communal unity, and celebrations of culture and life.

Special Thanks: Afro Charities, Association of African American Museums, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation, Inc., BGE, Friends of the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, National Park Service African American Civil Rights Network, Nicole Johnson of Baltimore Read Aloud, and PNC Bank.
Curated Reading List

REVISIT/REIMAGINE Catalog

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The exhibit catalog for REVISIT/REIMAGINE is now available! The catalog features images of the installation and works from thirteen DMV-based artists as well as six insightful essays, a roundtable discussion on preserving Black history in Maryland, and select photos from the AFRO American Newspapers Archives courtesy of Afro Charities. 

Featured authors include: Chanel C. Johnson, Martina Dodd, Thomas James, Savannah Wood, Dr. Kali-Ahset Amen, Angela N. Carroll, Deyane Moses, Webster Phillips III, Jaelon T. Moaney, and Jason Patterson.

Thank you to our bookstore partner, Baltimore Read Aloud. Get your copy right here at the museum.

Purchase Catalog

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