Ervin Jordan Curates New Museum Exhibit for Black History Month

Monday, January 28, 2019

As chair of the UVA Library’s Exhibition Subcommittee (for the Black History Month 2019 Planning Committee), Nau Center affiliated faculty member Ervin Jordan has co-curated (along with Regina Rush and Sony Prosper) a forthcoming exhibit: “Everyday People: Images of Blackness, 1700s-2000s.” “Everyday People” will be a Black History Month exhibition of select anonymous and familiar African-American images at the University of Virginia’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library’s first floor gallery. It is scheduled to be on view Thursday, January 30 through Saturday, April 20, 2019.

This exhibition, a photographic mosaic of lives and experiences, memories and traditions that impacted African-American communities and the nation, is arranged in four themes: “Faces,” “Family & Community,” “Recreation & Travel,” and “Working Lives.” Emblematic individuals of change and transition in this cultural curation includes athletes, children, couples, families, slaves, soldiers, students, and wage earners.

There is an opening reception scheduled for Thursday, January 31, at the First Floor Gallery of the Harrison/Small Library. Dean of the Libraries John Unsworth and Professor Jordan will both deliver remarks. Professor Jordan’s are entitled “Facing History: African-American Images as Cultural Influences.”