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A Century of Black Writers on Justice

Dark Testament

The American Writers Museum’s upcoming exhibit and education initiative Dark Testament will explore racial injustice in America through the work of Black American writers from the end of the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement.

On view in the Meijer Gallery and Roberta Rubin Writers Room Summer 2022.

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07:11
Dark Testament: Announcing a New Initiative
Carey Cranston, President of the American Writers Museum, introduces Keidrick Roy, leader of the new initiative titled Dark Testament at the Museum's annual benefit, OnWord 2021.

The multidisciplinary Dark Testament initiative will include:

  • On-site Exhibits spanning three gallery spaces at the American Writers Museum
  • Online Exhibits, including an online Dark Testament component and Pauli Murray: Survival With Dignity
  • Programs with Contemporary Black Authors ongoing throughout 2022-2023, on-site and online
  • Curricula and Activities for Middle and High School Students promoted to schools nationwide, with a focus on schools in low-income areas

Curating Team

  • Keidrick Roy, Lead Curator – Harvard University
  • Ivy Wilson, PhD – Northwestern University
  • Megan Finch, PhD – University of Minnesota
  • Michael Sawyer – University of Pittsburgh
  • Col. Candice Pipes – United States Air Force
  • Natalie Moore – Journalist
  • Nate Marshall – Poet
  • Glory Edim – Writer & Editor
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Lead curator Keidrick Roy presenting Dark Testament at OnWord2021, the AWM's annual gala. Photo by Kyle Flubacker.

Pauli Murray: Survival With Dignity

An Online Exhibit presented in tandem with Dark Testament

From Dark Testament lead curator Keidrick Roy:

“Born in 1910, Murray had been a writer, lawyer, activist, priest, and professor trained in legal studies at Howard, Berkeley, and Yale. She was also an advocate for civil and women’s rights. Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall called Murray’s 1952 book, States’ Laws on Race and Color, the “bible” of the landmark Brown v. the Board of Education decision to integrate schools. Murray also received an honorary citation as coauthor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legal brief for the 1971 Reed v. Reed Supreme Court decision that prohibited discrimination based on sex.

We hope museumgoers will be inspired by Murray’s extraordinary life and work, which has animated our creative approach to Dark Testament.”

View Pauli Murray Exhibit

Featured Writers Include:

  • Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
  • Frederick Douglass
  • James Baldwin
  • Langston Hughes
  • Ma Rainey
  • Malcom X
  • Maya Angelou
  • Nella Larsen
  • Pauli Murray
  • Ralph Ellison
  • W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • & more!

Dark Testament will include original works of art

Painted specifically for the Dark Testament initiative, visitors will be able to come face to face with writers like never before through large-scale portraits on display in the Meijer Gallery.

Art will be completed by:

  • Bernard Williams
  • Damon Reed
  • Dorian Sylvain
  • Dorothy Burge

Sponsorship Opportunities Available

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact our Director of Development Linda Dunlavy by phone at 312-374-8762 or via email at [email protected]

Sponsors

Institute of Museum and Library Services
John and Cathie Estey
Steve and Jessica Sarowitz

Lead Sponsors

Efroymson Family Fund
Irwin-Romo-Phillips Family

Partner Sponsors

Roger and Julie Baskes
Gail Bent
Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
Revada Foundation

Guild Sponsors

Anonymous
Joan and Robert Clifford
Julian Grace Foundation
Maria C. Green
Larry Shulman and Rhonda Rochambeau
Monica L. Walker
Sally Wood
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180 N. Michigan Avenue, 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60601

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