In celebration of Black History Month and the 50th anniversary of the Black Power movement, The Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture recently unveiled their Black Power exhibit. The exhibit explores a point of view of the movement that most people may not be familiar with. In some cases, the Black Power movement is synonymous with aggression or vigilantism, but those folks are clearly missing the point and should visit the Schomburg to gain clarity of the movement and how its remnants still inspire us today.
I was afforded the opportunity of a private showing with the exhibit’s manager Isissa Komada-John and curator Sylviane Diouf. I must say, walking through the exhibit was perhaps one of the most transcendent moments of my life. From the moment I stepped onto the hardwood floor of the space, I was humbled. The soft, yet pronounced sounds of Nina Simone’s voice filled the room and perfectly set the mood for the profound experience that I was to encounter. As the sun beamed through the large windows opposite of the entry way, I surrendered myself to the rich history that surrounded me. I timidly entered the gallery and gazed at the numerous photos of Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael and James Baldwin. After a brief moment of awe, I asked Isissa my first question.
B: What’s special about this particular examination of the Black Power Movement?
IK: Well, this exhibition is looking at the Black Power Movement, not the Black Panther Party, exclusively. Being on the cusp of the 50th anniversary, lots of institutions have been doing talks and showcases on the movement, and almost always they exclusively focus on the Black Panthers. Of course, the Panthers were extremely influential, they’re only one part of a much wider story. So our exhibition looks at Black Power in nine parts in tandem with the nine sections of the gallery: Organizations, Political Prisoners, Coalitions, Education, The Look, Pop Culture, Black Arts Movement, Spreading the Word and Black Power International.
B: How did the Black Power Movement affect other organizations?
IK: There are several organizations that supported and were inspired by the Black Power Movement. There are many images of Chicano Mexican-American groups on the west coast wearing brown berets. They were influenced by the Panthers. There’s a white group, Rising Up Angry. All this shows us that Black Power really was, of course, black-centered but it inspired other people of color, white working-class people, and people that were more progressive in their views.
B: Where did the contents of this exhibit come from?
IK: Most of what we have in the show is from our collections or from a couple of other institutions we have on loan. What’s really interesting is that a lot of the black and white photography is from the photographers themselves. We have lots of original buttons from the time, “Free Angela” is probably the most popular along with “Free Huey”. These are all from our artifacts division.
B: What’s your favorite artifact from the show?
IK: My favorite, and probably one of the most poignant pieces in the show is a letter from the Arab Women’s Leauge of Jordan to Angela Davis. The letter expresses their support and how they see her struggle as being so aligned to their own struggle with Israeli occupation. It’s almost as if this could’ve been written today. And I actually feel this way about the whole show. When I was brainstorming how to visualize all of this research that Sylviane did, I wanted to make it feel really fresh. Although it may feel a bit scary, in some ways we’re dealing with these same issues. It’s very contemporary in a certain sense.
B: Speaking of design, were you intentional in keeping the aesthetic simple to focus on the content?
IK: Yes! I really wanted to focus in on the story. Something that’s really important to me is that black folks have access to good design. I think it’s a statement in itself to think of ourselves as being worthy of being in beautiful, clean space where we can focus our attention. We don’t always get that in our institutions.
B: What roles did the media play in the Black Power Movement and how is that reflected here?
IK: Not a lot of people know, but the movement gave birth to the black scholar subculture. We’ve included an academic journal in the exhibit and showed that there were several black-owned bookstores that opened press and publishing companies. It was really just an explosive time for black publishing. Newspapers also played a huge role in getting the message out. Most notably, we have the first issue of The Black Panther, which is the Black Panther Party’s newspaper. You can see how it evolved as they got more professional with their design which was really thanks to Emory Douglas. He’s responsible for a big portion of the print aesthetic of Black Power. When we think of the Panthers, we can call out this sort of militant, but still caricature type of image in print which, in a way, made the panthers more approachable while not jeopardizing their image.
B: What inspired the overall idea of this exhibit?
IK: This exhibition is actually bringing a book to life. Sylviane edited this book, Black Power 50 and all of the text in the show are excerpts from different scholars that contributed to the book. So there’s such a wealth of knowledge from people who spent their academic careers studying these specific facets of the movement. So my role was to take this book and turn it into something visual and something in physical space that people could walk through and take in.
B: After people visit the exhibit, what do you want them to do? How can visitors take what they’ve learned from the Black Power exhibit, and make it actionable?
IK: What really amazes me is how some of the changes that were made through the Black Power Movement are still lasting today. For example, black student unions. So I think especially now, as things can feel so fleeting, I think it’s important for people to realize that the things we do now will be left for generations after us. So I hope we make better, more conscious decisions.
As if this experience wasn’t profound enough, I had the distinct honor of chatting with the curator of the show Sylviane Diouf. Here’s what she offered me.
B: Why was there a need for this exhibit?
SD: I think, for me, once I decided to work on this show, the idea was to go beyond the stereotype. When people think Black Power they think afros, guns, fist, violence, in a kind of nihilistic time. And they also think Black Panthers. I wanted to show that although the Black Power movement lasted for about 10 years, it was made up of several organizations with a lot different ideologies. Outside of the political efforts of the movement, there was also cultural and social progress that people somehow forgot. It was really during this movement where black became beautiful. The one thing I want people to take away from this exhibit is the idea that within 10 years, the Black Power movement achieved things that are still with us today. It changed the human landscape.
B: What lessons could we learn from the Black Power Movement?
SD: I think what’s really important to understand was that the Black Power Movement was a movement of young people. We’re talking people that were 18, 19, 20 years old. They were able to do really extraordinary things when you come to think of it, in terms of organizing and creating. They did more than just demonstrating. They created businesses, they offered services, like bookstores, newspapers, schools, etc. They were creating art. I think that’s really a lesson for today. People shouldn’t just talk but they should organize deep within the community. Obviously, there were problems, but they were motivated to unite and keep their ideologies prevalent.
If you’re in the NYC area, you have to make your way to Harlem to experience this beautiful and heroic expression of triumph and determination. Black pride is something that’s so easy to feel, yet difficult to convey in a physical space, however, The Schomburg managed to nail it.
Not in NYC? Don't sweat it. Check out this virtual tour of the gallery.
