A Road to Black Lives Matter

Diversity and understanding of our differences can calm the storms bringing forth an ultimate peace. Recognizing the spectrum of identities, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, spiritualities, and social experiences has set the tone for social movements and inspired hopes for a utopia of inclusivity. It has been a long, tumultuous road of sit-ins for the integration of public and private spaces, overcoming segregated buses and drug stores with marches to defy racial inequalities across bridges in Alabama and on to Washington, D.C.

As people capable of surviving the colonial consequences, African Americans are conscious of their shared ancestral memories, struggles, and imagination. In facing the present-day similar injustices with domestic terrorism, modern day lynching in police brutality, mass incarceration, and the dismantling of sociopolitical organizations, the dreams speak of an emancipated future that our ancestors already lived.

genesis_blacklives_RomareBearden — Romare Bearden, American, 1911 - 1988, Martin Luther King Sermon on the Mount, 1975, Silkscreen, 26 x 19 in., The Ronald W. and Patricia Walters Collection

genesis_blacklives_WilliamSylvester — William Sylvester Carter, American, 1909 - 1996, Billie Holiday, 1941 Mixed media on canvas, 16 1/2 × 12 1/2 in. (41.9 × 31.8 cm), Framed: 25 1/2 × 21 1/2 × 1 1/2 in. (64.8 × 54.6 × 3.8 cm), The Ronald W. and Patricia Walters Collection

genesis_blacklives_MickaleneThomas — Mickalene Thomas, American, born 1971, Michelle O, 2008, Screenprint, 24 1/2 x 18 in.; Framed: 30 x 24 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., The Ronald W. and Patricia Walters Collection

Artists Included:

Akili Ron Anderson, American, born 1946

Romare Bearden, American, 1911 – 1988

Allan L. Edmunds, American, born 1949

Valerie Maynard, American, 1937 – 2022

William Sylvester Carter, American, 1909 – 1996

Jacob Lawrence, American, 1917 – 2000

Mickalene Thomas, American, born 1971

Ira Graham, American

Jessica Marie Hopkins, American, born 1983

Kai Patterson, American, born 2000