Public Exhibits
Opening tour stop at the Sacramento Public Library (Photo credit: Amy Cohen of Exhibit Envoy).
Don Pío Pico, his wife Maria Ignacia Alvarado, and two nieces, Maraneto Alvarado and Trinidad de la Guerra. Creator: Charles. C. Pierce. From the C. C. Pierce Collection of Photographs. Huntington Library.
Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific
(2024 – , Principal Investigator and Curator) Take Me to the Water reveals the deep and historic connection between people of African descent and the Pacific Ocean.
Most accounts of the United States’ maritime enterprises are disproportionately populated by white seafarers. Yet, from the 16th to the 20th century, Black whalers, commercial mariners, fishers, explorers, soldiers, and sailors traveled along the Pacific Coast and traversed the high seas. The stories of these mariners, their impact in shaping the American Pacific, and their legacy in the context of development of society and identity, are all explored in Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific. This project is toured by Exhibit Envoy. It is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (visit calhum.org to learn more) and a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
Black and Brown California: Raciality, Colonialisms, and Identity in Alta California
(BETA Version Summer 2022, Principal Investigator) This project seeks to highlight the histories and lived experiences of people of African descent in pre-U.S. California in order to examine the changing ways race has been made in California across various colonial regimes. It will identify, locate, and recover historical primary or derivative documents and/or popular culture illustrating the long presence of Afro-Latina/os, Californios of mixed African descent, and Black Mexican settlers and citizens (by birth and naturalization) in the regions of Spanish and Mexican Alta California that now comprise U.S. California. This project is funded through a Mellon / US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) Recovering the US Hispanic Heritage Grant in partnership with Arte Público Press at the University of Houston.
Exhibit Photo by CAAM
For Race and Country: Buffalo Soldiers in California
(APRIL 2022 - OCTOBER 2022, Exhibition Researcher) Worked with the History Curator and Program Manager of the California African American Museum (CAAM) to locate and identify archival objects for this CAAM exhibition.
Photo Credit: Nine young men and women sitting in a field, Tulare County, 1912. Courtesy of Roberts Family Papers, African American Museum & Library at Oakland
We Are Not Strangers Here: African American Histories in Rural California
(RELAUNCHED AFTER ITS COVID-19 2020 HOLD!, Exhibit Researcher) This traveling and digital exhibit shines a light on African Americans in the history of California agriculture and rural communities, and Black people’s relationship with food, farming and land. A six-part podcast also accompanies this exhibit.
This project is a collaboration between myself, Susan Anderson of the California African American Museum, the California Historical Society, Exhibit Envoy and Amy Cohen, and the Cal Ag Roots Project at the California Institute for Rural Studies. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (Visit calhum.org to learn more), and the 11th Hour Project at the Schmidt Family Foundation.