Looking at most historical exhibits, it might be easy to assume that the lives worth celebrating are the big ones lined with conquest, activism, and hard-fought triumphs. But when those experiences are prioritized, history becomes a fun-house mirror that mainly reflects white, straight, able-bodied, and privileged men, effectively rendering everyone else and their experiences exceptions rather than rules.

Showcasing material that might border on the mundane, this exhibit delivers a slice of life by way of dancing, romancing, and glancing at photographs of lives well-lived. Perhaps most importantly, the objects show that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The pursuit of joy remains as important today as it did a century ago.

Simple enjoyments and the people with whom they are shared reveal much about a person’s race, class, and gender while simultaneously highlighting the interplay between positionality, access, and pleasure. In this exhibit, we have centered on more private aspects of the lives of Black Americans based on source materials housed in Special Collections with the hope that it will help challenge ideas of who belongs in an exhibit.

Curator: Erna Anderson, Ph.D Candidate in American Studies and 2020-2021 Special Collections Exhibits Apprentice

Design: Abram Clear '21, Special Collections Graphic Design Student Assistant

Fabrication and Installation: Brionna Atkins, Digitization Specialist; Jennie Davy, Exhibits Manager; Phillip Emanuel, Ph.D Candidate in History and Special Collections Graduate Student Assistant; and Alex Wheeler '23, Special Collections Student Assistant