This year marks the 20th anniversary of Baltimore’s Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. To honor its namesake, the museum has a world-class exhibit, TITAN: The Legacy of Reginald F. Lewis, which offers an in-depth journey into the extraordinary life and lasting legacy of the Maryland native. Lewis is lauded as the first African American to establish and lead a billion-dollar company. More than that, he was a devoted family man, skilled lawyer, and pioneering trailblazer.
The exhibit takes a look into his life in the boardroom and beyond. Through personal artifacts, rare photographs, and intimate narratives, visitors will gain the man he was, and the impact he left. The museum, named in his honor, was established through a $5 million donation from the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation. The exhibit should have taken about a year and a half to put together, but it was completed in six months.
The museum’s curator and director of interpretation, Robert Parker, describes it as the “most Herculean task that I think I’ve ever had to live.” He told Blavity, “This exhibit was a major undertaking to ensure we captured who he was with regards to public history, with regards to how we celebrate Blackness in America, but more particularly, here in Maryland. We wanted to celebrate the namesake of our institution and so we felt like this was the greatest way to do so.”
His family, including his widow Loida Nicolas-Lewis, and his two daughters, Leslie Lewis and Christina Lewis Halpern, were instrumental in bringing the exhibit to life. Mrs. Lewis remains an active part of the process.
“When she saw the final product, she was in tears of joy, because it was very reminiscent of her, and their life together. So Titan gives viewers an opportunity to really understand the man, the myth, and the legend, and particularly debunks the myths,” Parker added.
Throughout the exhibit, viewers will journey through Lewis’ formative years as a child, all the way up to his work as a philanthropist. There are some immersive opportunities for people to connect, including opening a replica of his high school locker and seeing how he was as a student, scholar, and his extracurricular activities. Lewis went on to Harvard University, making history as the first person to enter into the university without officially applying. From there, he worked on Wall Street and as a lawyer, among other things.
Of course, there are many artifacts of Lewis as a savvy Black businessman, the major deals he sealed, his life as a world class traveler, and his personal moments with his family and friends with portraits of family moments, him on the golf course, and more.
In terms of his travels, Lewis was a corporate giant. He had a private jet to fly around the country, and around the world. In his exhibit, there’s a replica of a jet fuselage featuring different awards and different accolades over his career. The family loaned his briefcase to the exhibit with the original contents in it, which included a pair of glasses, a blanc pen that’s worth about $900 during that period of time, a calculator, gloves, and an afro pick.
Visit the TITAN exhibit at 830 E Pratt St, Baltimore, MD 21202. The exhibit will remain open through April 2026.
