Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence
COMING SOON - Opens March 29, 2025
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum is proud to present its new exhibition, Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence, in collaboration with the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive on March 29, 2025. This exhibition seeks to embrace the stories of all those who pursued independence by centering on the lives and experiences of Black craftspeople and artisans from the 18th and 19th centuries. The exhibit will be on view from March 29 to December 31, 2025.
This exhibition will highlight the creations, contributions, and legacies of African Americans as they fought for freedom from the earliest calls for American independence and beyond. Fighting for Freedom spans the war years of the Revolution through the present, as African Americans have sought to pursue agency and liberty through craft. The underpinning idea of African American craft as a catalyst for freedom-seeking displays itself in a host of ways in this exhibition, encompassing furniture, metals, ceramics, textiles, art, tools, and personal accessories.
The Founders’ cries for liberty from tyranny and oppression resonated with African Americans and were embraced by Black craftspeople, both free and enslaved. “The Founding Fathers, while enslaving tens of thousands of people, unintentionally created a ripple effect,” states exhibition co-curator and founder of the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive Dr. Tiffany Momon, “and we hope that visitors will see just how important those cries for liberty were to Black craftspeople and how they pursued it despite being marginalized.”
Fighting for Freedom will feature more than 50 objects from public and private lenders and includes objects made by both free and enslaved craftspeople. With artifacts from the 18th, 19th, and 21st centuries, this exhibition tells the stories of countless known and unnamed figures whose skills and commitment created not only objects but independence in many forms.
Presented in Partnership With:
Lenders:
Colonial Williamsburg (www.colonialwilliamsburg.com)
George Washington’s Mount Vernon (https://www.mountvernon.org/)
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (https://www.monticello.org/)
Philadelphia Museum of Art (https://philamuseum.org/)
American Folk Art Museum (https://folkartmuseum.org/)
Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (https://mesda.org/)
Museum of Fine Art, Houston (https://www.mfah.org/)
Tennessee State Museum (https://tnmuseum.org/)
Charleston Museum (https://www.charlestonmuseum.org/)
George Washington Foundation (https://kenmore.org/)
Menokin Foundation (https://www.menokin.org/)
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (https://tnmuseum.org/)
Scholars:
Lauren Applebaum,
Jim and Betty Becher Curator of American Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
https://ncartmuseum.org/collection/museum-collection/curators/
Robell Awake,
Chairmaker, teacher, and researcher based in Atlanta, Georgia
https://www.robellawake.com/
Lydia Blackmore,
Curator of Decorative Arts, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Lew Orleans, Louisiana
https://www.hnoc.org/
Aleia M. Brown,
David Julian and Virginia Suther Whichard Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
https://history.ecu.edu/aleia-monae-brown-2/
R. Ruthie Dibble,
Robert N. Shapiro Curator of American Decorative Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
https://www.pem.org/about-pem/curators/dr-r-ruthie-dibble-the-robert-n-shapiro-curator-of-american-decorative-art
Philippe L.B. Halbert,
Richard Koopman Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, New Haven, Connecticut
https://www.thewadsworth.org/
Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley,
Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
https://philamuseum.org/
Tiffany N. Momon,
Associate Professor of History, Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, and Co-Director of the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive.
https://new.sewanee.edu/programs-of-study/history/faculty-staff/tiffany-momon/
Susan Rawles,
Elizabeth Locke Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
https://vmfa.museum/collections/curators/#
Jennifer Van Horn,
Professor of Art History and History, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
https://jennifer-vanhorn.com/
Travel Locations:
North Carolina Museum of Art (Winter/Spring 2026)
https://ncartmuseum.org/
Gibbes Museum of Art (Summer 2026-Spring 2027)
https://www.gibbesmuseum.org/
Historic New Orleans Collection (Summer/Fall 2027)
https://www.hnoc.org/
Tennessee State Museum (Winter/Spring 2028)
https://tnmuseum.org/
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (Summer/Fall 2028)
https://www.themsv.org/