Celebrating Dr. King and Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights through music, art, storytelling and virtual reality in connection as we close the exhibition, Vision & Spirit | African American Art: Works from the Bank of America Collection.  Enjoy an artist talk with NMAAHC Curator Aaron Bryant on civil rights photojournalists who documented Dr. King and other landmark moments  from this era. Reflect on the movement with a choral performance from the Carter Legacy Singers, a community-based ensemble comprised of Dr. Nathan Carter’s alumni singers from Morgan State University.  Families can learn more about the Montgomery Bus Boycott through mother-and-son storytellers, “Dr. Mama” Deborah Pierce-Fakunle and Dr. David Fakunle. Participate in an  I Am  A Man virtual reality experience to explore the Memphis Sanitation Workers protests and their aftermath. Hear a  panel discussion reflecting on Dr. King and pivotal moments in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Maryland community civil rights leaders. Participants include:  Rev. Dr. Ruby Reese Moone, Charles Mason, Leo Burroughs Jr., Lisa  Mitchell Sennaar and Simone R. Barrett (Moderator). July 2, 1964  marks the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The day concludes with a screening of the documentaries Disruption: Highway to Nowhere and Eroding History and a panel discussion with the films’ producers and policy makers as they consider the equalizing factor of environmental injustice and its impacts on Black Marylanders in urban and rural settings. Produced by journalist and documentarian Sean Yoes, Disruption: Highway to Nowhere explores Baltimore’s infamous Highway 40 and the damage its construction wrought upon West Baltimore, once considered one of several of America’s most vibrant Black communities that were irreparably disrupted and damaged by 20th century federal highway projects.

Eroding History tells the story of two Black communities on Deal Island, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, that are finding themselves at the intersection of sea level rise, historic racism, and the disappearance of Black communities. It is a climate justice story, made by two Black filmmakers – Yoes and Andre Chung – and a Jewish grandchild of refugees, Rona Kobell. A deeply personal and moving story of a community striving to hold on to its culture, Eroding History is anything but dry.