Art in Crisis: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Struggle for African American
Identity and Memory

The Division of United States Studies (Phillipa Strum, director) and
History and Public Policy Program (Christian Ostermann, director) at the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the African American
Studies Department at the University of Maryland-College Park, and the
African American Resource Center at Howard Universityare pleased to invite
you to a discussion of

Art in Crisis: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Struggle for African American
Identity and Memory

with author Amy Helene Kirschke, Associate Professor of Art History,
University of North Carolina, Wilmington

and commentators

Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Deputy Director, National Museum of African
American History and Culture, and

Dolan Hubbard, Chair and Professor, Department of English and Language
Arts, Morgan State University.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Conference Room, 5th floor
Woodrow Wilson Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC
20004 - 3027
Reception to follow.

The Crisis was an integral element of the struggle to combat racism in the
United States. W. E. B. Du Bois, its editor from its inception in 1910
through 1934, used the journal as a means of racial uplift, celebrating the
joys and hopes of African American culture and life, and as a tool to
address the injustices black Americans experienced the sorrows of
persistent discrimination and racial terror in general and lynching in
particular. Visual imagery was central to bringing his message to the homes
of readers and emphasizing the importance of the cause; art was integral to
his political program.

Prof. Amy Helene Kirschke will discuss the way in which Du Bois created a
visual vocabulary to define a new collective memory and historical identity
for African Americans.

Directions are available at our web site at
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions Please allow extra time for
security; a picture ID is required.This is a free public event, but RSVPs
are required. Please respond with acceptances only to
usstudieswilsoncenter.org.