Praise & Protest: Voices of the Chicago Black Renaissance opens at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at the Woodson Regional Library on Wednesday, September 17th.
Chicago was a crucible of Black creativity, intellect, and political imagination from the 1930s through the 1950s. The artists, scholars, and activists it cultivated reshaped American culture with their work and affirmed Black identity, achievement, and experience. This era, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance, laid a foundation for subsequent generations of artistic-intellectual vanguards who spearheaded pivotal cultural shifts, including the Black Arts Movement.
Told through the archival records preserved in the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, Praise & Protest: Voices of the Chicago Black Renaissance is an invitation to learn more about this transformative cultural movement. Praise & Protest shines a light on this distinguished yet understudied history whose seminal scholarly, literary, and artistic explorations of Black life in America are a beacon and a guide to confront injustices that echo still today.
Celebrate opening night in conversation with noted poet, publisher, and activist Professor Haki Madhubuti— a cultural son of Chicago Renaissance artists Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Burroughs, founder of Third World Press, and an architect of the Black Arts Movement. 2024 Gordon Parks Fellow Tonika Johnson, founder of The Folded Map Project, joins us as moderator.
Praise & Protest is the culminating exhibition of the Magnitude and Bond: Linking and Building Relationships Across Chicago’s Black Visual Art Collections project at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection. Magnitude and Bond aims to increase awareness and discoverability of the Chicago Public Library’s archives and historical resources related to African American art history, while supporting emerging scholars from Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. These events are made possible with generous support from the Getty Foundation and the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
Programs and Events
Praise and Protest: Voices from the Chicago Black Renaissance with Haki Madhubuti - On Wednesday, September 17th at 5:00pm, please join us at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection for the opening of the exhibit, Praise & Protest: Voices from the Chicago Black Renaissance. In a moderated discussion, noted scholar, Professor Haki R. Madhubuti, will reflect on his legacy, his connection to the Chicago Black Renaissance and how his work as founder and publisher of the oldest independent Black publishing house in the country has contributed to the preservation of this transformative cultural era.