The Kimmel Windows Gallery at New York University has a new exhibit; The Black Civil War Soldier, that is on view until Feb. 28, 2023 along LaGuardia Place and West 3rd Street in Manhattan. The gallery exhibits works visible through its windows facing out onto the streets, so the exhibit can be seen 24 hours a day, seven days a week for free. The exhibit is curated by Deborah Willis, chair of NYU Tisch’s Department of Photography, the author of the popular new book of photographic history entitled The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History of Conflict and Citizenship, published last year.
I took photos of the the exhibit as you would experience it in person. So I am showing you these as WINDOWS facing out onto city streets. The windows themselves are designed in layers with both background layers and a foreground layers. Sometimes that makes the image harder to photograph, but more fascinating live and in person. Lighting is used by the designer to create background images. Here is the introductory panel.
Curator Deborah Willis stresses the use of photos in the exhibit as both personal and political statements by Blacks who had never before been photographed en masse in the United States. She also explained her use of the words of the Black men and women of the period.
Willis prefaces the story of the war, with the resistance leaders, often women, who kept slavery in front of the American public. You can see the reflections of colorful neon signs from the stores across the street.
The next panel looks at photography at the start of the Civil War, and why it offered an important portal into the previously hidden lives of African Americans.
The window after that describes the start of the war, and how Black communities around the United States received the news of the conflict.
Union strategy for winning the war is the focus of the next window.
Emancipation was described by Lincoln as part of his evolving strategy for ending the war.
Finally, in 1863, African Americans were called to arms!
A series of photos with accompanying text depict Black Men in Battle.
Black women played an important role in the now-armed struggle for freedom.
As Union forces advanced through the South, their Armies of Liberation brought teachers with them, including Blacks from the North, who created some of the first educational institutions for the slaves who were freeing themselves in response to Union military victories. Black regiments became schools for Black men.
There is a window on African Americans spreading the news. Black reporters initially worked to keep Black communities informed about the war and the fight to end slavery. By the end of the war, some were writing for white readers as well.
Enslaved Black families had been forcibly torn apart for decades in the United States. Now, at the moment of Liberation, Blacks worried that the deadly violence of war would be a terminal blow for many families.
The final window describes the collapse of the Confederacy, the early days of Reconstruction, and the growing strength of Black communities.
The exhibit is an excellent way for modern Americans to engage with what was, just forty years ago, a widely ignored part of our past. Looking into the eyes of men who had begun the war as slaves and finished it as liberators is inspiring. That so many had to suffer and die to end an institution that no honest person could ever justify is sobering.
This exhibit is in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village right off of Washington Square Park. It is easy to find a meal in the neighborhood and both cocktails and coffee can be found at a number of inviting spots nearby. If you visit in the evening, iconic music clubs abound for jazz, the blues, and rock.
It took me a half-hour to see the exhibit. It is very accessible and the windows are not crowded with people so it is easy to move from exhibit to exhibit. It was only a couple of blocks east of the West 4th Street Subway Station. It can also be reached by bus, cab or Uber. If it is raining, don’t go since this is outdoors and there is no protective overhang.
Note: All color photos taken by Pat Young.
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