Blue Mountain Community College and the Betty Feves Memorial Art Gallery will host a special traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution April 10-21 that celebrates the opening of the Smithsonian’s newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, DC.
The exhibition is on a tour of Eastern Oregon throughout March and April, with shows in Joseph, La Grande, Baker City and Ontario. The tour is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Its stops in eastern Oregon were made possible by Gwen Trice, founder and director of the Maxville Heritage Center in Joseph, with assistance from the Eastern Oregon Visitors Association.
“Not only is BMCC honored to be a host for this commemorative poster exhibit, but we are thrilled to have Gwen Trice speak on campus as well,” said Lori Sams, Director of BMCC’s Betty Feves Memorial Art Gallery.
The exhibition highlights key artifacts that tell the rich and diverse story of the African American experience, as well as the many stories of African Americans and African diaspora people and their contributions to the local community. It includes the child-sized shackles of a slave, the clothing worn by Carlotta Walls on her first day at Little Rock Central High School to Chuck Berry’s Gibson guitar and the track shoes worn by Olympian Carl Lewis.
BMCC will host a reception for this special event for the public on April 17 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Trice will lead a discussion of the region’s African American history during BMCC’s Arts and Culture Series earlier that day from 1-1:50 p.m.
