‘Roll Call’: Exhibition Celebrating Two Centuries of Black American Art Opens Today in Birmingham

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — The exhibition “Roll Call: Two Hundred Years of Black American Art” opens its doors to the public today at the Birmingham Museum of Art, celebrating two centuries of Black American creativity with 99 works by 87 artists. All works are drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and remain on view through January 17, 2027, as announced on the museum’s official site.

The exhibition also marks the museum’s 75th anniversary, an institution that has built one of the most important collections of Black American art in the United States: more than 1,000 works by over 250 artists. The first acquisition, a work by Henry Ossawa Tanner, dates to 1971. The exhibition is curated by Jade Powers, the Hugh Kaul Curator of Contemporary Art.

The exhibition is organized in four thematic sections. “The Ground We Stand On” focuses on foundational moments of the collection, starting with Tanner and David Driskell; “Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility” is dedicated to the power of community, with works by Emma Amos and Belkis Ayón; “What Freedom Feels Like” explores everyday life, abstraction and political resistance, with works by Mary Whitfield and Noah Jemisin; while “In the Heart of It All” places Birmingham and the South at the center of the narrative, with photographs by Carrie Mae Weems and Dawoud Bey. Other represented artists include Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Edmonia Lewis, Glenn Ligon, Lorna Simpson, Chakaia Booker, Nick Cave and Sam Gilliam.

A day before the opening, on September 25, the museum hosted the opening panel with artists Richard Dial, Roscoe Hall and Celestia Morgan, moderated by curator Jade Powers.

Tickets cost $19.71 for adults, with 50% off for museum members; admission is free for youth up to age 17, while Sundays follow a “pay-what-you-wish” policy.