BLACKTIVISTS

The First 10yrs
Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA
Curated by Liv Moe, Founding Director and Amy Greer, Deputy Director.

Hand-printed silkscreen prints on black Legion Stonehenge paper, black ink, extra fine black glitter

“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, or a party or a class,—it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.”
—Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice From the South, 1892

The preceding quote by scholar Anna Julia Cooper appears within each United States passport. Cooper is the only woman cited in this government issued declaration of citizenship. She is also one of the Black Activists highlighted in this project.

BLACKTIVISTS is an ongoing artwork consisting of silkscreened portraits that depict thirteen relatively unknown and understudied Black women activists. The term “activist” is defined as an energetic and vigorous advocate of a cause, especially a political one.

The majority of these women were born during the time of enslavement in the US, and a few were enslaved at birth. Yet despite and/or because of their social circumstances, these women championed human rights for African Americans at a time when their own racialized and gendered existence remained in jeopardy. With that history in mind, this project features activists from the post-Civil War era whose contributions to the development of African Americans and women’s lives then holds a place of relevancy for all Americans today.

Jackson created these prints by silk-screening black ink on black paper, a technique reminiscent of many works in her portfolio. This technique also symbolizes the invisibility, devaluation, and barely acknowledged essence of these Black women’s stories. Hand sifting a layer of extra fine black glitter (upon the black ink while wet) adds reflectivity and sparkle to the images. Literally this method brings attention to the likeness depicted in each woman’s portrait. Conceptually it highlights each of their previously unknown and ignored, yet important contributions to American history.