The Western Reserve Historical Society is unveiling a new permanent gallery at its Cleveland History Center to honor African American history in a more formal way. Its first exhibit, which opens this week, is called History in Their Hands: Black Photographers in Cleveland, 1968-Present. It features work by several generations of Black photographers including Van Dillard, James Gayle, Charles Pinkney, Mychal Lilly, Dr. Gina Gayle and Amanda D. King, including both color and black and white images, supporting materials from the WRHS African American Archives, and some of the photographers’ equipment.
At the same time, WRHS will be opening two less Cleveland-centric exhibits about Black history, both traveling shows from the Smithsonian Institution: Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign and City of Hope: Resurrection City and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. The complementary exhibits look at the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. through the lens of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s final campaign: to address poverty in America, which, despite the era’s general affluence, afflicted a wide range of people in the 1960s. It focuses on the Solidarity Day Rally at Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Memorial on June 19, 1968, as the movement tried to forge a path forward following Dr. King’s assassination. The exhibit includes photos, maps, interviews with participants and graphics which go hand-in-hand with the poster show. In addition, the focus on that year points out that Van Dillard was hired to be the Cleveland Press’s first full-time Black photographer and James Gayle was the first full-time photographer hired by the Plain Dealer, both in 1968.
The exhibits will have a soft opening from 10am-4pm, which is free. A formal dedication will take place from 7-10pm, hosted by Connie Hill-Johnson and Kevin Johnson, with music by soft jazz ensemble Horns & Thins and a short film by Cleveland experimental filmmaker Robert Banks. Get tickets here.
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106
