“Let Your Motto Be Resistance? at California African American Museum

Wednesday, 25 June 2008 02:04

Los Angeles, CA - The title of this inaugural exhibition for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is drawn from a statement by abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet, who said in 1843, “Let your motto be resistance! Resistance! RESISTANCE! No opposed people have ever secured Liberty without resistance.” The exhibition will be on view at the California African American Museum (CAAM) from June 26 through September 14, 2008.

Presented by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), this exhibition’s title captures the essence of the subtlety, and often less overt forms, of resistance that are on view in this stunning exhibition of photographs. A compilation drawn from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery collection, these photographs illustrate how photographers and subjects often came together to create positive images of achievement and accomplishment that challenged demeaning stereotypes and helped to shape new images about race and status. 

Within the context of the photographs, the viewer will see that resistance took, and takes on, many forms. Working with a growing circle of African American intellectuals and professionals, photographers often challenged the prevailing view of blacks as intellectually and socially inferior. Dramatic images of labor leader A. Philip Randolph (1948) and activist Malcolm X (1963) spotlight those who confronted racism and social injustice head-on.

“This exhibition is a statement to the power of any achievement, no matter how small, as a source of strength and powerful resistance even when it seems under the surface or calm,” says CAAM Executive Director Charmaine Jefferson.   “Resistance through accomplishment in the face of obstacles and naysayers has been the cornerstone of African American survival.  At CAAM, we are honored to present this exhibition. It represents documented evidence that there are nearly as many ways to resist as there are courageous people who resisted – and still resist-- stereotyping and inequality.  These are photos of creative, hard-working, smart, unwavering, strong-minded people, and sometimes folks who were just tired of having to prove every step. Each image represents a moment of moving forward and/or an individual whose life represents a universal triumph in which we can all celebrate a life of constructive resistance.”    

Among the exhibition highlights are an ambrotype of Frederick Douglass (1856), James U. Stead’s photograph of abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet (c. 1881), Addison N. Scurlock’s portrait of author and activist W.E.B. Du Bois (c. 1911), Underwood and Underwood’s photograph of boxing legend Joe Louis (c. 1935), Josef Breitenbach’s image of singer Sarah Vaughan (1950), Dan Weiner’s photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1956), Irving Penn’s image of opera icon Jessye Norman, and Linda McCartney’s portrait of rock star Jimi Hendrix (1967). These portraits explore photography’s influential role in shaping public identity and individual notions of race and status over the past 150 years. First exhibited at the International Center for Photography and the National Portrait Gallery, these 70 photographs were drawn from the 100 selected for display by photographer and exhibition guest curator Deborah Willis, to create this exhibition, which is currently traveling to major cities across the United States.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalog that features contributions by historians and commentators, as well as biographies of the portrait subjects.

CAAM is located at 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Parking in the adjacent lot is $6.00 per vehicle. Enter from Figueroa and 39^th Streets. For more information, call 213-744-7432 or visit the museum’s Web site at www.caamuseum.org . The exhibition, national tour and catalog were made possible by a generous grant from the lead sponsor, MetLife Foundation. The Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture provided additional support.  Installation of the exhibition at CAAM is made possible through the generous support of the State of California and Friends, the Foundation of the California African American Museum.

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