In February 2024, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the groundbreaking exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism from Feb. 25-July 28, 2024, at The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 999 in New York. 

Through some 160 works, it will explore the comprehensive ways in which Black artists portrayed everyday modern life in the new Black cities that took shape in the 1920s–40s in New York City’s Harlem and Chicago’s South Side and nationwide in the early decades of the Great Migration when millions of African Americans began to move away from the segregated rural South. The exhibition will establish the Harlem Renaissance as the first African–American–led movement of international modern art.

The Ford Foundation and Denise Littlefield Sobel provide major support for the exhibition. The Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund, the Enterprise Holdings Endowment, and The International Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art provide additional support.

Many of the paintings, sculptures, and works on paper come from the extensive collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

“This landmark exhibition reframes the Harlem Renaissance, cementing its place as the first African American–led movement of international modern art,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO. “Through compelling portraits, vibrant city scenes, and dynamic portrayals of nightlife created by leading artists of the time, the exhibition boldly underscores the movement’s pivotal role in shaping the portrayal of the modern Black subject—and indeed the very fabric of early 20th-century modern art.

The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism will open with galleries that explore the cultural philosophy that gave shape to the New Negro movement of art and literature, a term defined and popularized by the movement’s founding philosopher, Howard University professor Alain Locke, in dialogue with W.E.B. Du Bois, Charles S. Johnson, and influential literary and music figures including Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and James Weldon Johnson. 

The Met has an extended history of collecting and displaying works by artists active during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1940s, the Museum acquired several early works by gift from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), such as Jacob Lawrence’s Pool Parlor (1942). 

A fully illustrated scholarly catalog on the vibrant history of the Harlem Renaissance will accompany the exhibition. The Met will host various exhibition-related educational and public programs, to be announced later, while also pursuing community outreach and engagement initiatives. The exhibition is featured on The Met’s website at (TheMetMuseum.org) and on social media.

By Sharon Michael-Chadwell, Ed.D.

What have we been told about Frederick Douglass? We know he escaped slavery, was an orator, and an author. However, Douglass’s life is a tapestry of difficulty, changing his identity for survival. A renowned public figure during the Reconstruction Period and Washington D.C. politics, he was the first African American nominated for U.S. vice president, a board member at Howard University, president of the Freedman’s Bank, and the most photographed American of the 19th century. On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a public speech, “What, To the Slaves, Is The Fourth of July,” about how African Americans are not truly free.

I became intrigued with knowing more about Douglass after visiting the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, also known as Cedar Hill – his estate in Washington D.C. overseeing the Capitol building.
Douglass was initially named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. He never knew his parents except that his mother was Black and his father was white. He was born in February 1817 or 1818 in Maryland. Douglass, like many slaves, didn’t know his actual birthday; and, after becoming free, selected Valentine’s Day as the date. Douglass’s fiancé, a freed Black woman named Anna Murray, agreed to help him escape to New York. Murray met him there, and they married. Because he was a fugitive, the new couple selected the last name of Douglass. Many high society members recognized Douglass as a powerful orator, yet they could not believe he was a fugitive slave. Therefore, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was written to provide readers with an account of his life as a slave, including the names of plantations and other places of enslavement.

In 1877, Douglass purchased 10 acres of farmland and an estate. Known as Cedar Hill, it is a must-see tour when visiting D.C., even more than touring other monuments. The mansion is a representation of Victorian customs and Black privilege. Every room tells its own story. There are the bedrooms of Douglass and Anna Murray Douglass, which are connected to the nursery. Murray Douglass had five children with her husband, and died in 1882. His second wife, Helen Pitts, an activist and former abolitionist’s daughter, also has her own room in the house. Within the Victorian era, couples not only had their rooms; they had their beds. Douglass and Pitts’s marriage was controversial, given it being interracial and a 20-year age difference.

On the first floor, all the trappings of privilege become apparent. Cedar Hill had a kitchen in the house, which during this timeframe was uncommon. Near the kitchen are the laundry area and several curling irons of various sizes used to maintain the ruffles in his shirt collars. He collected chinaware, books, and other artifacts from around the world. Education was a critical factor in Douglass’s life; hence, he was open to providing opportunities for many to come by and educate themselves. The one object that caught my attention visiting the estate was seeing his copy of a German Antonius Stradivarius violin. He played that violin for his grandchildren when they visited Cedar Hill and other guests.
Outside his house, Douglass had a man cave known as the Growlery. This retreat had no windows; however, he had a desk with all the materials needed to write and study. It also had a fireplace as well as a couch.

Cedar Hill would not be here if it had not been for the activism of his late wife, Helen Pitts, who fought to protect the essence and historical being of Cedar Hill. Eventually, it became a protected heritage site and national park. Sitting in a predominately African American neighborhood called Anacostia, Douglass’s principles of activism, education, and community organization are still celebrated.