Concealed to Revealed: Confronting Racist Imagery in Museum Collections

Join us for a lively discussion as scholars and museum professionals address racist imagery in the collections of Georgetown University and Tudor Place. Artwork has played a role in constructing racism for centuries. Objects with racist imagery can range from white supremacist iconography to anti-Black caricatures. Museums can use this imagery to address historical injustices and foster dialogues about race, representation and prejudice, both past and present.

Moderator:
Melanie A. Adams, Roger Ferguson and Annette Nazareth Director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. She has more than 25 years of community engagement experience in museums and higher education.

Panelists:
LaNitra M. Berger, Associate Professor of History & Art History, and Director of African and African American Studies at George Mason University. As an art historian, her research focuses on the intersections of art and social activism in the Black and Jewish diasporas.
Ianna Recco, Curator and Art Historian specializing in art history of the transatlantic slave trade and settler colonialism of the 18th century.
Shana Klein, Associate Professor of Art History at Kent State University. She is the author of The Fruits of Empire: Art, Food, and the Politics of Race in the Age of American Expansion.

Admission is free.

Note location(s): This program will be held live at the Georgetown University Lauinger Library in The Murray Room, 5th Floor, and also virtually. This event is wheelchair accessible. Please contact Em Aufuldish at art-arthistory@georgetown.edu with accessibility requests.

This program is co-produced by Tudor Place & the Georgetown University Art and Museum Studies Masters Program.