November 2020 | Vol. 6 | No. 3
“The Smithsonian’s expertise, scholarship and collections will help our nation better understand the challenges that arise from racism, confront our diffcult history and bring healing and hope for our future.” –LONNIE G. BUNCH III Secretary | Smithsonian Institution
HEALING THE NEW CATALYST: A NATION NORMAL TRANSFORMING PG 6 PG 14 THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION PG 17 Sketching from Life
Instagram artist captures everyday portraits
ashington, D.C.-based sketch artist Bradford Grant brings life to scenes Wunfolding under our noses every day. As the National Portrait Gallery’s frst Instagram artist-in-residence, Grant, who is also a professor of architecture at Howard University, interprets the museum’s programs, exhibitions and spaces through made-from- life drawings.
During the museum’s commemoration of the ratifcation of the 19th Amendment in August, Grant captured the building’s façade illuminated in purple and gold, the colors of women’s suffrage movement. All of Grant’s sketches premiere on the museum’s Instagram and social media feeds: @smithsoniannpg
IMPACT is published three times a year by the Smithsonian Offce of Advancement.
1000 Jefferson Drive S.W. MRC 035 | P.O. BOX 37012 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20013-7012
Robert J. Spiller ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ADVANCEMENT
Laura Hambleton EDITOR
Miranda Ellison, Elizabeth McNeely, Julia Ross, Elise Walter WRITERS
Marcela Luna GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Elizabeth McNeely MANAGING EDITOR
Abigail Croll PHOTO RESEARCHER Illuminated in purple and gold, the colors of the women’s suffrage movement, the National Questions? Portrait Gallery commemorates the ratifcation of the 19th Amendment. IMAGE Bradford Grant Please contact Laura Hambleton | [email protected] IMPACT NEWS IMPACT NEWS
Food Activist Danielle Nierenberg Receives Julia Child Award National Zoo Welcomes Panda Cub
As a girl growing up in Missouri, food activist Danielle Nierenberg watched National Zoo giant panda Mei Xiang delighted animal lovers worldwide Julia Child cook on PBS and even tried making one of her chicken recipes this summer when she gave birth to a healthy, active cub. at age 10. The Aug. 21 birth defed long odds. At 22 years old, Mei Xiang was considered Now, Nierenberg continues the famous chef’s legacy as the recipient of the to be at the end of her reproductive years. She is now the oldest giant panda sixth annual Julia Child Award, presented by the Julia Child Foundation for in the United States and the second oldest in the world to give birth. Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts in conjunction with the National Museum The cub’s arrival also marked the frst time a zoo in the United States has of American History. experienced a successful pregnancy and birth via artifcial insemination Nierenberg is the co-founder of Food Tank, a global research and advocacy using only frozen sperm. nonproft that seeks to improve food access and affordability. Through “Giant pandas are an international symbol of endangered wildlife and hundreds of events and visits to more than 70 countries, she has worked hope, and with the birth of this precious cub we are thrilled to offer the with thousands of farmers, scientists and policymakers to highlight world a much-needed moment of pure joy,” said Steve Monfort, John and innovative solutions to food and agriculture issues. Adrienne Mars Director of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Nierenberg received the award Oct. 15 as part of Smithsonian Food Biology Institute. To see the cub in action, visit the Zoo’s panda cam: History Weekend. This year’s event highlighted food justice. nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/panda-cam Lightning Strikes a For more, visit s.si.edu/FoodHistoryWknd Risk to Tropical Forests
An estimated 100 million lightning strikes Regional Councils Raise on land in the tropics each year have a signifcant impact on forests, global carbon $115,000 Amid Pandemic cycling and other terrestrial ecosystems, When the COVID-19 shutdown began last spring, according to a new study by researchers at Smithsonian museums and research centers the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute quickly reimagined their programs, exhibitions in Panama. and distance learning offerings to serve the Based on satellite data showing strike public virtually. locations and on-the-ground effects from To support this critical work, 10 Smithsonian Regional 92 lightning strikes, researchers estimate Councils—volunteer-led networks based in cities that lightning damages approximately 832 across the country—launched a successful frst- Liberty Bell Asks Big Questions million tropical trees each year. Roughly time fundraising effort, yielding $115,000 for 11 one quarter of the trees likely die from A six-city public art project asks Americans to consider the meaning of liberty COVID-19-related projects across the institution. related injuries. through an unusual medium: a virtual tolling bell. Funds will support Smithsonian projects, including Co-presented in Washington, D.C., by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture “Lightning infuences the a webinar series highlighting how Asian American, Garden and Art Production Fund, Liberty Bell is an animated augmented-reality Pacifc Islander and Latino community leaders ability of forests to store drawing in 360 degrees. The red, white and blue illustration by artist Nancy are addressing COVID-19 challenges; a program biomass, and therefore Baker Cahill hovers in mid-air, swaying to the sound of dissonant bells. to bring art and engagement to socially distanced carbon, because it tends Its threads unravel and come together to refect the evolution of American seniors; and scientifc research to identify and liberty over time. to strike the largest trees.” mitigate emerging zoonotic diseases. Evan Gora | Post-Doctoral Fellow, Liberty Bell can be experienced on smartphones by downloading the free Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Los Angeles Regional Council, co-chaired by 4th Wall app. It is geolocated at six sites: Boston; Charleston, S.C.; Philadelphia; Michael Hausknost and Andrew Tennenbaum, Because lightning is so challenging to Rockaway, N.Y.; Selma, Ala.; and Washington, D.C. raised the most funding of all 10 councils and study, it has been overlooked as a change had the highest participation level. Christine The Washington, D.C., iteration of the work is best viewed over the Refecting agent in tropical forests, where researchers FAR LEFT Food activist Danielle Nierenberg IMAGE Food Tank LEFT Nancy Baker Cahill’s Liberty Bell IMAGE Udvar-Hazy, chair of the Regional Councils, Pool, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial looking toward the Washington often focus on the effects of drought, fre Courtesy of Art Production Fund ABOVE Panda cub at one month IMAGE National Zoo and Conservation led the initiative nationwide. Monument. The project runs through July 2021. hirshhorn.si.edu Biology Institute RIGHT Drone image of multiple trees damaged by a single lightning strike PHOTO Evan Gora and high winds. stri.si.edu
4 5 In June 2020, a protest against racial injustice and police brutality made its way through the streets of Washington, D.C. Photographer Talia Hawley submitted this photo as part of the Anacostia Community Museum’s Moments of Resilience storytelling project. PHOTO Talia Hawley
n a year marked by widespread protests against racial injustice and calls to reckon with America’s racial past, the Smithsonian is taking a big step toward Ihelping the country heal. A new Race, Community and Our Shared Future initiative—to launch nationwide this winter with generous support from founding partner Bank of America—will explore how Americans understand, experience and confront race.
The initiative is an ambitious commitment to the nation that will draw on the full breadth of Smithsonian expertise, research and collections. Through virtual town hall conversations, in-person and digital exhibitions, flm screenings, teacher training programs and more, the Smithsonian will provide context and tools for Americans to talk openly about their personal experiences '- of race and take action against racism and HA1 YOUSA intolerance. [(f\U S[ I 5 WHATYOU DO We sat down with Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and Ariana Curtis, content lead for the initiative and curator of Latinx Studies at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, to discuss the Smithsonian’s unique ability to address race in America and defne a more hopeful future for all of us.
HEALING A NATION7 RACE, COMMUNITY AND OUR SHARED FUTURE RACE, COMMUNITY AND OUR SHARED FUTURE
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR institution. We need to use our collections THE SMITHSONIAN TO LEAD A and scholarship to provide the necessary NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON historical context. At the National Museum of RACE AND IDENTITY AT THIS African American History and Culture, we tell MOMENT? LONNIE BUNCH: the unvarnished truth. That extends beyond QAt a time when the nation is in crisis, all of our just one museum to who we are as a country institutions need to contribute to making the and who we have been. This is the moment country better. The Smithsonian is a place to use our public trust. There is a great desire that is trusted, and it’s also a place that has to understand our current moment as a expertise—scholarship and collections on consequence of history and how we support issues of race. This is an opportunity for the each other collectively moving forward. We Smithsonian to demonstrate that it is can lead in that way. of value, not just as a place that looks back BUNCH: The country tends to live in bubbles. but as a place that looks forward. We will do We talk to the people we think we understand. everything we can to provide understanding The Smithsonian can bring together people and contextualization as the country tries to who don’t normally talk to each other. That PLACEHOLDER betterunderstand who it once was and point ability to blur boundaries is what’s special it toward who it can become. about the Smithsonian and why this initiative (NOT FINAL) ARIANA CURTIS: I second that—the Smithsonian is so important. is unique as a trusted national and international
FAR LEFT An 1852 handmade tin box holds a Certifcate of Freedom for Joseph Trammell, providing a legal record of his status as a free man of color. IMAGE PHOTO Michael Barnes Gift of Elaine E. Thompson, in memory of Joseph Trammell, on behalf of his direct descendants, National Museum of African American History and “This is an opportunity Culture ABOVE In 1968, women participate in the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C. The campaign for the Smithsonian demanded economic justice for poor Americans of diverse backgrounds. IMAGE Jill Freedman, Resurrection City: Untitled, National Museum of to demonstrate that African American History and Culture © Jill Freedman LEFT At the National Museum of African American it is of value, not just History and Culture’s annual Women’s E3 Summit, women come together to discuss empowerment, entrepreneurship and engagement. IMAGE Courtesy as a place that looks of the National Museum of African American History back, but as a place and Culture PHOTO Earl Gibson III that looks forward.”
LONNIE G. BUNCH III Secretary | Smithsonian Institution
9 RACE, COMMUNITY AND OUR SHARED FUTURE RACE, COMMUNITY AND OUR SHARED FUTURE
but our conversations need to have a deep, Part of our collaboration will be creating an local resonance for people to understand environment where museums recognize they how issues of race impact their lives. We will have this greater role. start with town hall conversations across the This initiative will also give us a chance to country. We want these to be a dynamic mix take full advantage of programs like the of local and national activists and educators. Smithsonian Affliates and the Smithsonian We will have people skilled at providing Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). PHOTO Stephen Voss frameworks talking to people who have place- I’ve spent a lot of time in museums and based knowledge. We want to grow engaged, cultural institutions across the country. Often, “It’s important that intergenerational communities of learners and we don’t take full advantage of what these the Smithsonian doers. We want these conversations to spark partners bring to the table. I don’t think we can community involvement and a sense get to the local conversations without drawing models what of purpose. on their expertise. intentional social BUNCH: This is the moment for museums to Q | HOW CAN THE SMITHSONIAN IMPROVE be of value. At a time when people are fearful, EDUCATION ON ISSUES OF RACE AND justice-oriented it’s the role of a museum to give comfort. At IDENTITY? BUNCH: One of the Smithsonian’s a time of pain, museums can remind us of major platforms is education. We realize that work looks like.” beauty. We can help communities grapple with there is great interest in understanding how ARIANA CURTIS the things that scare them, that divide them. to use education to reshape the way race is content lead for the Race, Community and Our Shared Future initiative and curator of Latinx Studies at the National Museum of African American History and Culture LEFT The Anacostia Community Museum’s Gateways/Portales exhibition explored the experiences of Latino migrants and immigrants in four U.S. cities IMAGE Rosalia Torres-Weiner, Gateways/Portales mural (detail), 2016. Anacostia Community Museum BELOW A National Museum of American Q | HOW WILL THIS NEW INITIATIVE light on all our dark corners. It’s going to be History exhibition, Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War CHANGE THE SMITHSONIAN, BOTH uncomfortable. It will make us grapple with II, addressed the incarceration of 75,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry and 45,000 Japanese nationals during the war. This suitcase, owned by INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY? CURTIS: The big questions. Taki Watanabe, shows the fve-digit number assigned to her family as they Smithsonian is a great convener but it is also a were forcibly removed to Minidoka Incarceration Center in Idaho. IMAGE One of the things I want to do is put together value leader. People believe us and they believe Gift of Barbara Watanabe, National Museum of American History in us. It’s important that the Smithsonian a scholarly anthology that looks at how models what intentional social justice-oriented the Smithsonian has dealt with interpreting work looks like and reaffrms that this work is race and how we have been affected by the critical for museums and cultural centers. This racial attitudes of the day. At the installation is part of who we are. A lot of our engagement ceremony when I became Secretary of the has centered on people coming to Washington, Smithsonian, I thought about how Frederick D.C., or to other Smithsonian spaces. This is an Douglass wasn’t allowed to speak at the opportunity to rethink how we operate and Smithsonian. At that moment, I felt that collaborate. We want to co-create with local Douglass was speaking now that I was there. communities and co-lead discussions about If we understand who we once were, we can the world. The Smithsonian always should take use that to propel us forward—to be a model the dual role of educator and learner. for how cultural institutions treat their own staff.
BUNCH: I’ve spent my career pushing institutions Q | HOW WILL THIS INITIATIVE REACH to be fair and more inclusive. I think the Smithsonian AND HAVE IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES has done wonderful work in some areas ACROSS THE COUNTRY? CURTIS: We but really needs to be a model for valuing want to reach communities where they are. diversity and inclusion. This initiative shines a Scholarship and collections are our strengths
10 11 RACE, COMMUNITY AND OUR SHARED FUTURE RACE, COMMUNITY AND OUR SHARED FUTURE
taught in elementary school, or how to make LEFT The Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field project is a collaboration between the National Museum of the American Indian and Native photojournalists to sure educators are comfortable talking about explore the diversity and complexity of contemporary Native life. IMAGE Russel Albert race. We have a great array of material on these Daniels, Genízaro Delvin Garcia standing in remains of the 18th-century Santa Rosa issues, but we should also illuminate the good de Lima Church, Abiquiú, New Mexico, 2019 © Russel Albert Daniels. BELOW The Race, Community and Our Shared Future initiative will support pre-K-12 curricula and learning work on education being done at places like on race and identity. PHOTO Kim Nguyen BOTTOM Students participate in the Hirshhorn Harvard or in the District of Columbia, for example. Museum’s ARTLAB+, a digital art studio for teens. As part of the Smithsonian initiative, young community leaders will host a quarterly series of online conversations The Smithsonian’s greatest success will come on race. IMAGE ARTLAB+, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden as a network collaborator. We should be a portal—a place to draw on the best thinking on education and race, adding our own expertise to help the public grapple with these issues.
CURTIS: The Smithsonian can move the conversation beyond individual racial identifcation to talk about structural racism and how race operates. We think about race from multiple perspectives, from the individual to the institutional. The resources we provide help set that framework, so people understand the power of race and how justice is collective.
Q | WHAT DOES THIS INSTITUTIONAL scholar and as a curator. I am lucky in the COMMITMENT TO EXPLORE RACE timing. Previously, spaces like the Smithsonian MEAN TO YOU ON A PERSONAL LEVEL? were not available to someone like me. I know BUNCH: It’s personal in terms of saying: A that a series of institutional commitments country is in crisis—how do I help? It’s also made my career possible. I have benefted personal because I am someone who has from the Latino Curatorial Initiative and the experienced the kinds of issues that have building of the National Museum of African been shaped by race in this country. This is an American History and Culture. I understand opportunity to give back. It is our responsibility— how institutional commitments can be life as scholars, educators and cultural leaders—to changing at an individual level. I get excited help the country. By doing that—I hope—we With generous support from Bank of America imagining the transformative impact of a long- will make sure that my grandson won’t get (see p. 17), the Smithsonian will launch the Race, term commitment like this and its legacy on thrown over the hood of a police car like I did at Community and Our Shared Future initiative the Smithsonian, the museum feld, for our age 14. It should be personal for all of us. this winter. We seek additional philanthropic visitors and for future museum professionals. support to ensure the initiative has transformative CURTIS: I know I’m lucky to have the Smithsonian impact during the next fve years. career that I have, from a personal and professional standpoint, as a Black Latina
12 13 THE NEW NORMAL THE NEW NORMAL
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The bank has a unique Girlhood (It’s complicated), a just-opened exhibition institutions that dates to 1992. relationship with the National Museum at the National Museum of American History, Bank of America’s Chairman of African American History and Culture as a founding donor, and I have been on spotlights remarkable, resilient girls from the and CEO Brian Moynihan serves on the council of the National the board since 2010. The museum has 19th century to today, focusing on education, Museum of African American had a big impact on me because it tells wellness, work, fashion and biography. History and Culture. an important story. I’ve taken a role to help raise money from the corporate Following an extended run at the museum, the exhibition Talk about the bank’s gift to community, telling others about the establish the Race, Community impact of this museum and asking will travel across the country from 2023 to 2025 through and Our Shared Future initiative. them to join the corporate council. the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. There is no better institution than the Smithsonian to lead these I am still most proud of the fact Join the conversation on what it means to important conversations. The that about a third of visitors had never be a girl—and woman—in America today. Smithsonian is a national institution previously come to a museum. That shows that touches all sectors of society in that there was such a demand to see This project received support from the scholarly and thoughtful ways. And as this story, a needed addition to the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative. the country’s museum, it represents the American story. boldness of America, willing to take on What are the guiding principles of Bank EXPLORE MORE americanhistory.si.edu/girlhood the toughest issues we face. of America’s philanthropy? We believe My dream is to have conversations museums and libraries are core parts of BECAUSE OF across America, so that we have culture and need to be supported. How greater and greater understanding we support a number of museums and HER of our fellow citizens—to understand exhibitions at the Smithsonian is similar STORY what it is to walk in the shoes of a to what we do with museums around Latino American, Native American, the world. We are the product of our Asian American or African American. communities, and for our communities David Kennerly Kennerly David Equality is what we have to drive to be strong we need to not only give money but help communities develop. PHOTO Krystal Quiles Krystal ILLUSTRATOR for now. This initiative is a bold leap of 16 17 t/CIJl(foFO{[E,CT/N{j Nb4ffWASJI/NfJToNf).C.,'f LAfAYfTT£S(vlJAlrC:Cl(lf'IITOR AAKONBRYANTWALKf THGSTNGJ;T~TALK/Nu TIJ fROTfSTfflJ ANb £VfRY/JAf 0 BLACK f?OPLb ABO/ITii/I/AT If TRANS UVfJ JIAPPt:NINvK/u/lTAltJW: f,AATTfR TOl)IJ'tIN CoMMf,fA/IT/~f APPIL AvROfJTl/~ CO/IA/Tlf}'./IC CU~ATO/fA-lCYA!V/J/?4LllR/J HAI Bl:t/V r;IIARTIA/6 LIST~NSTO T/ICl/1 STOHi~/. TtlC kVOLUT/()N Of= Tl//; COV/IJ-141MASf'.[ F/i'OA/1 cf t> 1-IOM(M/I/Jf;70 MAf f-PHtJIJH I) Tu TJ./OSI: JI~WANTf Tlllllf PRIJTCfT tc ««aqaor f[ATUIIIN/J SOCIAL Off POL!TltL1L VICNPO/Nff. fOITJ;RJ fill! 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ANTIITJRfSPON/JTPfVfNTf fJf TODAY,'' 0ffll/.4l 1 6ALL01✓ - wflATl}N, SMITHJDNIAr,/AM/;/('/C,AAI - OANl&LPl4ll4 1 /11/tl!OtVAlPOSTALM/JfrUM ,tNTM~ff/AM t TH, NATIONALM/JfflAM OfTJI~ AME"RICAN/N/JIAN PRESORTED STANDARD POSTAGE & FEES 0 Smithsonian PAID SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION OFFICE OF ADVANCEMENT PERMIT NO. G94 1000 Jefferson Drive S.W. MRC 035 | P.O. Box 37012 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 ABOVE The women of Gee’s Bend, Ala.—a historically African American community on the Alabama River—have made distinctive geometric quilts since the mid-19th century. Three women from Gee’s Bend and Arlington, Va., created this quilt, Sharecropper’s Masterpiece, continuing a remarkable cultural tradition. IMAGE Avis Collins Robinson, Mensie Lee Pettway and Andrea Pettway Williams, Sharecropper’s Masterpiece, 2008. Gift of Avis, Eugene, Aaron and Lowell Robinson, in memory of Edward and Annie R. Collins, National Museum of African American History and Culture