Photo: David Stover © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
African American Read-In
Thu, Feb 23, 5–7 pm
As a part of the 27th annual African American Read-In, a national event, VMFA staff and members of the community share African and African American literature through readings and poetry related to work in the permanent collection.
The VMFA Library will also be open on this night for extended hours with works from the Louis Draper archives on display. Come see notebooks, cameras, and prints up close and discuss their significance with Courtney Yevich Tkacz, Museum Archivist, and Maggie Allbee, Reference Librarian.
Southern Landscape, 1941
Eldzier Cortor (American, 1916–2015)
American Galleries, Level 2
Reading:
Sorrow Home and Southern Song by Margaret Walker
Speakers:
Kym Grinnage, Vice President and General Manager, NBC12
Stacy Hawkins Adams, Author & Director of Communications, Collegiate School
King’s Beaded Robe, early 20th century
African, Yoruba culture
African Galleries, Level 2
Reading:
Excerpt from Death in the King’s Horsemen by Wole Soyinka
Speakers:
Free Egunfemi, Historian, UntoldRVA
Ayo Abifarin Egunyemi, Executive Director, Culture 4 my Kids
Dr. Jonathan C. Bibbs, Lead Administrator, Richmond Prep
Face Cup, 1861–1862
Unidentified Enslaved Potter
American Galleries, Level 2
Reading:
Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Speakers:
Ja’Bril Scott, Richmond Boys Choir
Christopher Bolling, ART 180 Teen Leader
RaJahné Harris, ART 180 Teen Leader
Marland Buckner, Entrepreneur & Board of Directors, Communities in Schools, Richmond
Glass Pavilion, 2011
Theaster Gates (American, born 1973)
21st-C Gallery, Level 3
Reading:
Excerpt from Native Son by Richard Wright and Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Speaker:
Dr. Shermaine Jones, Assistant Professor, VCU Department of English and VCU Students
Three Folk Musicians
Romare Bearden
(American, 1911–1988)
Modern and Contemporary, Level 2
Reading:
Excerpt from Rectangular Structure in My Pai