Danny Lyon, American (b. 1942). Civil Rights Movement activities at work. SNCC workers outside the funeral for girls killed at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Depicted are (left to right)  Emma Bell, Dorie Ladner, Dona Richards, Sam Shirah, and Doris Derby, Birmingham, 1963. Image courtesy of  Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Artists, photographers, and musicians were central to the Civil Rights Movement.  A new art exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art celebrates the contributions of African American artists to the struggle for social justice and equality.

BY KAZEEM ADELEKE

The role artists and musicians played in the civil rights struggle is the focus of an art exhibition at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The show is titled History & Hope: Celebrating the Civil Rights Movement. It brings together 13 works in various media highlighting the civil rights movement timeline. In the show are photographs, drawings, and prints that recognize the contributions artists and musicians have made in the struggle for equality, racial harmony, and social justice

Civil Rights Movement Protests

Civil rights movement protests were everywhere in the 1960s. Perhaps the most famous is the March on Washington. The massive protest brought together more than 250,000 people who gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. The event drew attention to the inequalities faced by African Americans after a century of emancipation.  The event, also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, brought together many speakers. They included A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, Daisy Lee Bates, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Martin Luther King, among several others. There were also musical performances by Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Mahalia Jackson. It was on this occasion that Martin Luther King, Jr. made his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech.

History & Hope celebrates the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington in August 1963. It was organized in collaboration with the American Jazz Museum, the Black Archives, and the Nelson-Atkins. The exhibition showcases works that reflect the concerns of artists and musicians about the struggle for equality and racial harmony. They also show how the civil rights movement continues to shape today’s art movement.

Growing Up Black

Since its opening, visitors, especially those that grew up in the Civil Rights era, have thronged the show. Many are reminiscing about the overwhelming events of the civil rights movement after seeing some of the photographs on display. Sly James, the Mayor of Kansas City, for instance, talked about his personal experiences growing up as a black man in Kansas City. Similarly, Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum shared the story and experience of baseball players during the civil rights struggle.

Kendrick spoke glowingly about players like Rube Foster, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Ernie Banks, and Jackie Robinson. He highlighted the hurdles they encountered during the eras of the segregated leagues and when the league was eventually integrated with Major League Baseball. Mayor Sly James’s comments and those by other community members highlight the major ideas behind the exhibition.

“We all decided that conversation about these works of art would add an enormous depth to this exhibition,” said Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin, visiting curator at the American Jazz Museum.

The exhibition goes to the past to re-present the struggles of African Americans in their quest for racial equality. Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art notes that the museum’s collection “allows us to reflect on the past so we are better able to build our common future.”

Civil Rights Movement Activists

Civil Rights Movement activists did not just go out to protest. Many used their work to criticize and document the inhumane treatment of African Americans. In this group are photographers and artists. One of the photographs in the exhibition by Danny Lyon, an American (b. 1942), captures SNCC workers outside the funeral of the girls. The girls were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bomb explosion in Birmingham, Alabama. In the picture are African Americans and white members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. They include Emma Bell, Dorie Ladner, Dona Richards, Sam Shirah, and Doris Derby.

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The curatorial focus on how the civil rights movement shaped and continues to inform the thinking of artists and musicians strategically bridges the past and the present. Built into that narrative is the election of the first African American president.  The exhibition which has become a conversation piece continues to generate interest in Kansas City and beyond. A response station at the show gives visitors the opportunity to express their feelings and memories of the Civil Rights Movement.  “It was important to gather the rich and very personal memories of those who had been touched by the civil rights movement,” notes Dr. Delia Gillis, a history professor at the University of Central Missouri and board member of the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City.

A new art exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art celebrates Civil Rights Movement with artworks by African American artists of that era. What do you think about the contributions of African American artists to the struggle?

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