Dear Reader
When I started this blog, I wanted to use this space to highlight underrepresented communities and raise awareness of pressing social, cultural, and/or political issues within the visual arts. The list below — incomplete and evolving — contains antiracist resources that have been helpful to me. Other resources have been recommended by people I respect.
Antiracist Resources in Connecticut
Art Organizations
Adae Fine Art Academy — an independent art school located at 840 State Street in New Haven, Connecticut, founded by artist Kwadwo Adae.
The Amistad Center for Art & Culture — a not-for-profit cultural arts organization that owns a vital collection of 7,000 items including art, artifacts, and popular culture objects that document the experience, expressions, and history of people of African American heritage that is housed in Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
Bailout Gallery — 100% of proceeds go to bailout funds in NYC, MN, and CT. Organized by local artist Amira Brown.
NXTHVN — a multidisciplinary arts incubator that cultivates a creative community in the Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven.
Art Exhibitions that center Black Artists
REVOLUTION ON TRIAL: May Day and The People’s Art, New Haven’s Black Panthers @ 50 at Artspace, New Haven | Jul 24, 2020 – Oct 17, 2020
Reckoning with “The Incident”: John Wilson’s Studies for a Lynching Mural at the Yale University Art Gallery | Jan 17, 2020 – Oct 25, 2020
Roots & Roads at Franklin Street Works | Feb 8, 2020 – May 17, 2020
Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) at the New Britain Museum of Art | Jan 24, 2020 – April 19, 2020
Afrocosmologies at the Wadsworth Atheneum | Oct 19, 2019 – Jan 20, 2020
In Plain Sight/Site at Artspace, New Haven | Nov 30, 2018 – Mar 2, 2019
Making Them Known: Nona Faustine at Artspace, New Haven | Jul 28, 2017 – Sep 9, 2017
Mark Bradford: Matrix 172 at the Wadsworth Atheneum | June 4 – Sept 6, 2015
Embodied: Black Identities in American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery | Feb18, 2011 – June 26, 2011
Educational Resources
New Haven Free Public Library — follow the NHFPL on Facebook and Instagram for lists of audiobooks, ebooks, documentaries, and other free electronic resources that highlight important works by Black writers, illustrators, musicians and filmmakers.
The Freedom Trail — The Connecticut Freedom Trail documents and designates sites that embody the struggle toward freedom and human dignity, celebrate the accomplishments of the state's African American community, and promote heritage tourism.
People Get Ready — New Haven’s Social Justice bookstore features an inspiration board of local authors, tools for teaching truths, and much more.
Podcast: Revolution on Trial — Co-Produced by The Narrative Project and Artspace New Haven, this podcast examines a rally on the New Haven Green protesting the trial of nine Black Panther Party members who were being tried for accounts relating to the murder of Alex Rackley, a party member and suspected FBI informant.
Black-Owned Businesses
CT Black-Owned Businesses — via Collective Resistance CT
Black Owned Businesses in the New Haven area — via City Seed
Black-Owned Restaurants — via CT Eats Out
Local Organizations
Vote
The Connecticut Primary Elections are currently scheduled for August 11, 2020.
Register to vote here. Look up your polling address here.
Contact Your Legislators
Find your CT Legislators by address here.
Senators
120 Huyshope Avenue, Colt Gateway, Suite 401, Hartford, CT 06106 | 860.549.8463 / 860.524.5091 (fax)
136 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 | 202.224.4041 / 202.224.9750 (fax)
90 State House Square, 10th Floor, Hartford, CT 06103 | 860.258.6940 / 860.258.6958 (fax)
702 Hart Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 | 202.224.2823 / 202.224.9673 (fax)
Mayors
Beyond Connecticut
Antiracist Reading Lists
“An Antiracist Reading List,” Ibram X. Kendi, The New York Times, May 29, 2019 — Ibram X. Kendi on books to help America transcend its racist heritage.
“An Essential Anti-Racist Reading List,” Hayley Maitland, British Vogue, May 31, 2020
“Do the work: an anti-racist reading list,” Layla F. Saad, Guardian, June 3, 2020 — Layla F. Saad chooses books to fortify a long-term struggle.
“12 Anti-Racist Books Recommended by Educators and Activists,” The Strategist, June 3, 2020 — compiled by the editors of NY Mag, for adults and children.
“These Books Can Help You Explain Racism and Protest to Your Kids,” Jessica Grose, The New York Times, June 2, 2020 — The conversation about race needs to start early and keep happening.
“Several Antiracist Books Are Selling Out. Here's What Else Black Booksellers and Publishers Say You Should Read,” Suyin Hayes, Time, June 2, 2020
Antiracism Resources for White People — Document compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020.
Books
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
How to Be an Anti-Racist, Ibram X. Kendi
Podcasts
1619, New York Times — “1619” is a New York Times audio series, hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, that examines the long shadow of American slavery.
Code Switch, NPR
Seeing White, Scene on Radio, from the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University
African American Art, Culture & History Museums
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, California
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan
National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee
National Museum of African American History & Culture, Washington, D.C.
National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
Pullman Porter Museum, Chicago, Illinois
The Buffalo Soldiers Museum, Houston, Texas
The Studio Museum, Harlem, New York
Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, Detroit, Michigan
Civil Rights, Policy Reform & Antiracist Organizations
Showing Up For Racial Justice — a national network of groups and individuals working to undermine white supremacy and to work toward racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.
Southern Poverty Law Center —The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation.
Email jgleisner@gmail.com for additions, corrections, etc.