February 7, 2026 - January 16, 2027 She Speaks: the Power of Historical Memory
The Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum proudly announces its newest exhibition, She Speaks: Black Women Artists and the Power of Historical Memory–a visionary presentation that examines the 250-year history of the United States of America through a Black Feminist lens. This exhibition brings together a powerful constellation of contemporary Maryland-based and internationally recognized Black women artists whose deeply personal and politically charged works bear witness to the past, illuminate its impact on the present, and conjure Afrofuturist visions.
Through a diverse range of media—including collage, painting, print, photography, textile, installation, and time-based media—She Speaks acknowledges Black women as active participants in the making of this country rather than passive bystanders, highlighting artists who operate as historians, archivists, and scholars to tell their stories. Presented alongside rarely seen archival materials and family heirlooms, the exhibition highlights the pivotal role Black women have played in shaping and preserving this nation since the Revolutionary era, while envisioning liberated futures through cosmic speculation.
Featured artists include Elizabeth Catlett, Alanna Fields, Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, Charlyn Griffith-Oro, Khaleelah I. L. Harris, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Jeannine Kayembe-Oro, Zsudayka Nzinga, Ada Pinkston, Beverly Price, Faith Ringgold, Noreen Smith, Darlene R. Taylor, Jessica Valoris, Savannah G. M. Wood, and Alisha B. Wormsley.
As the nation collectively commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence through coordinated national, Maryland 250, and Annapolis 250 initiatives, this exhibition enters the conversation by expanding how American history is remembered and told. By retracing and reinterpreting these histories through the voices of Black women, the exhibition challenges audiences to consider whose stories have been preserved, and whose have yet to be fully recognized.
She Speaks is curated by Martina Dodd, BDTM Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, with curatorial support from Leslie Rose, Exhibit Manager. Lending institutions include Academy Art Museum, Galerie Myrtis, Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., James E. Lewis Museum of Art, and Reginald F. Lewis Museum.
She Speaks will open to the public with an Opening Reception and Black History Month celebration on Saturday, February 7, 2026. The exhibition will remain on view through January 16, 2027, with interpretive programming offered throughout the year to further engage with the exhibition’s themes of history, memory, resistance, and Black women’s enduring contributions to the nation’s cultural and civic life.