• April 18, 2018, 12–1:30 p.m.

Art Speaks: The Time Is Now! The Black Arts Movement, Activism, and Art for (and by) the People

Featuring: Rebecca Zorach, art historian

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

800 South Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60607

Community mural "Wall of Dreaming and Man's Inhumanity to Man," 1975 by artists Bill Walker, Mitchell Caton, Santi Isrowuthakul, and Siddha Webber, at the intersection of 47th Street and Calumet Avenue in Bronzeville, Chicago. Photo: Anne Cullen, 2018.


Artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s put their artistic training in the service of political movements for self-determination and political change, envisioning an art by and for "the people." The challenges they faced and the strategies they tried remain relevant today. Presented by Rebecca Zorach, Northwestern University Professor in Art and Art History, this talk chronicles key artistic creations and events of the period, but also highlights debates in which cultural workers grappled with differing positions on community, self-expression, and critique in their efforts to find the best way forward.

This event is free and open to the public. The venue is wheelchair accessible.