Against the backdrop of police violence toward black men and a surge in racist sentiments, many of the nation’s cultural institutions are making a concerted effort to put black creative expression front and center.
The trend is apparent in Kansas City, where exhibits such as the Kemper Museum’s “Rashid Johnson: Hail We Now Sing Joy” (through May 21), and theater productions, including the Melting Pot Theatre’s “Dutchman” and the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre’s “Gem of the Ocean,” showcase black talent and help to instill a broader understanding of the African American experience.
They also help to put current events in perspective.
As Robert Trussell observed in his online review of “Dutchman”:
“Many Americans were lulled into a false sense of security during the Barack Obama presidency. After all, some progressive goals of the ’60s had been realized — or so we thought. Then came Donald J. Trump, who was elected with the support of white nationalists. White rage now seems to be setting the agenda, which lends ‘Dutchman’ a fresh relevancy.”
The Rep’s spring production of “A Raisin in the Sun” similarly “speaks to what’s going on in the nation right now,” as co-director Chip Miller told KC Studio arts writer Calvin Wilson. Next season the Rep will stage August Wilson’s “Fences,” and the 2018 “New Works” program will feature Mellon Foundation KC Rep Resident Playwright Nathan Louis Jackson’s “Brother Toad.”
Black history is American history, and the drive is ongoing to redress the omission of African Americans’ contributions to all facets of our national life. The opening last fall of the Museum of African American History and Culture on the national mall marks a giant step in that direction. In January, The National Park Service announced funding for 39 projects in more than 20 states “that will preserve and highlight the sites and stories associated with the Civil Rights Movement and the African American experience.”
In these troubled times, black courage and heroism offer an example to all Americans. In his recently released “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” hailed by the “Washington Post” as “the most compelling volume among the early resistance literature emerging in response to Trump,” Yale historian Timothy Snyder urges Americans to “Defend institutions,” “Beware the one-party state” and “Stand out.”
“Someone has to,” Snyder insists. “Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken and others will follow.”
In 1985, leading African American artist and scholar David Driskell curated an exhibit titled “Hidden Heritage,” bringing to light the contributions of black artists from the American Revolution to the Harlem Renaissance. In June, the Kemper Museum picks up the thread with “Magnetic Fields,” an exhibit highlighting the contributions of African American women abstractionists from the 1960s to the present.
Other exhibits of note include the National World War I Museum and Memorial’s online exhibit, “Make Way for Democracy!” examining the challenges and contributions of African Americans during World War I, “Joe Jones: Restless Regionalist” at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, and the Spencer Museum of Art’s “Separate and Not Equal: A History of Race and Education in America.”
The Spencer show, utilizing objects from the museum’s permanent collection to illuminate issues of racial discrimination and disparity, coincides with a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History of Culture Workshop at KU exploring the history of racial discrimination in American education. (Of course, these workshops would cease to exist if the President’s budget calling for the elimination of the NEA and NEH were to pass. (See Schmelzer p. 26). The Nelson-Atkins’ “Nick Cave: Property,” highlighting a single artwork delving into black history and racist stereotypes by the renowned Kansas City Art Institute alumnus, continues through June 11.
In theater, dance, music, art and literature, the black artist perspective is vital to understanding ourselves as Americans — “Moonlight” won Best Picture at the Oscars; Colson Whitehead’s “Underground Railroad” nabbed the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. As Kansas City artist Harold Smith reflects in a profile about his art and activism in the current issue, “If a person wants to know what happened, read a history book. If they want to know how it affected people, look at the artwork. This adds to the importance of black art throughout history.”
