28 Days of The Kinsey Collection

28 Days of The Kinsey Collection

In honor of Black History Month we want to recognize the many contributions and triumphs African Americans made to America throughout history. What better way to show this than to highlight the pieces of the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection?

Married for over forty years, activist couple Bernard and Shirley Kinsey have built a world-renowned exhibition that challenge and redefine African American identity and representation in history and arts. What began as a third grade project for their son Khalil – turned in to one of the largest privately owned collections of African American art, artifacts and manuscripts in the country. Spanning over 400 years, their collection feature works from Zora Neale Hurston, Romare Bearden, and Elizabeth Catlett – to name a few. Guests can even find pieces that have local ties to the city of Cincinnati such as the “Autumn Landscape” by Robert S. Duncanson, who spent the majority of his professional career in the Queen City.

This is the second time the exhibit has made its way here to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. It was originally the second location the collection appeared when it began traveling in 2006. Since then, it has been displayed at the California African American Museum, The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Epcot Center at Disney World and The Hong Kong University Museum and Gallery to name a few, and has won many prestigious awards including the President’s National Award for Museum and Library Services.

Throughout February our staff, volunteers and docents will highlight pieces of the collection as well as give you first-person accounts of their experiences in the gallery. See the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, presented by Macy’s, at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center before it closes on Saturday, March 3. #MyNURFC #KinseyatNURFC

Will Jones
Public Relations & Social Media Coordinator
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center