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John Batten

There is no more hallowed American ground, embracing the country’s history, main institutions, seats of government, memorials and monuments, than the National Mall, in Washington. Stretching from the Lincoln Memorial, going past the Washington Monument’s great needle and ending at the United States Capitol, the mall is flanked by all the great Smithsonian museums, including the National Gallery. A key story, however, had long been missing: that of black Americans in the country’s often bloody history.
Hong Kong treated to rare collection of African American art and history
The call for a dedicated museum to tell that story was made in 1915, but it was not until the 1970s that it was seriously consider­ed. The allocation of a vacant site on the mall in 2006 and the opening last September of architect David Adjaye’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has enabled the tale to be told. Crowds have flocked to the museum, and entry tickets are sold out until March.

Before this museum opened, private initiatives collected and exhibited original documents and other materials relating to the history of black Americans. Bernard and Shirley Kinsey explain that their collection “grew out of our search to know who we are and where we came from, and a desire to share that knowledge with our son”.
“Rising Above: the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection”, currently showing at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, is a rare opportunity to see original materials and art related to the black-American experience.
Hong Kong outing for exhibition that aims to rewrite black American history
Exhibits related to slavery and racism predominate, and such items as letters from civil rights activists Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jnr bring that history alive. Particularly poignant is an original poster of simple text on cardboard: “HONOR KING: END RACISM!” This is one of the posters that was carried through the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, on April 8, 1968, just four days after King’s assassination in that city. A powerful accompanying photograph – of rows of Memphis women and men, black and white, walking in solidarity, carrying these posters – puts this now-artefact into its significant historical context.
As Derek Collins, dean of the university’s Faculty of Arts, reminds us: “One doesn’t have to be a historian to know that America wouldn’t exist today were it not for its immi­grants, were it not for its slaves and were it not for its slow, and at times painfully diffi­cult efforts to recognise first the human, then the civil rights of its citizens […] this is part of the American story that is still being told, even now, and unsettling the narrative that many of us think we already know about America.”
New museum dedicated to African-American history
Displayed is a lithograph of some of the 22 black American men who sat in the United States Congress between 1870 and 1901; of them, at least 12 were born slaves. A chromolithograph print of black soldiers at Camp William Penn remind us that 180,000 black Americans served as Union soldiers during the civil war. And consider Phillis Wheatley, born around 1753 in West Africa, then sold into slavery. Purchased by a liberal Boston merchant, Wheatley was educated in Greek and Latin. On display here is a 1773 edition of her book of poetry, published in London, which was, at the time, only the third book of poetry published by an American woman.
Self-advancement saw the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in 1909. Its mission is “to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial dis­crimination”. A panoramic group photograph of the NAACP’s 29th annual conference, in 1938, depicts a humanist organisation that bravely, in a time when segregation was mandated by law, mixed men and women of all ages and races. The group’s current member­ship numbers 500,000.
 
 
 
The exhibition’s selection of contempor­ary art is, sadly, too conservative and adds little political or social commentary to com­plement the historical displays. However, Ava Cosey’s painting Ancestor’s Torch(2011) audaciously asserts that black Americans were responsible for a wide range of inven­tions and innovations. It’s an eclectic and debatable list that reflects the worldwide “American experience”, and includes such popular items as potato chips, the ironing board, the pencil sharpener, the ice-cream scoop – and even the guitar.
“Rising Above: the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection” is at University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong, 90 Bonham Road, Pok Fu Lam, until February 26.


Black American treasures from  turbulent times go on show in Hong Kong

A photograph of delegates at the 29th conference of the NAACP, in 1938. Pictures: Xiaomei Chen

Letter from Malcome X. to Alex Haley, dated December 03, 1963, on display at Rising Above: The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, on Display for the first time outside of the United States, at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong [08DECEMBER2016 THE COLLECTOR POST MAGAZINE] SCMP / Xiaomei CHEN

Ancestor's Torch by Ava Corsey, 2011 at Rising Above: The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, on Display for the first time outside of the United States, at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong [08DECEMBER2016 THE COLLECTOR POST MAGAZINE] SCMP / Xiaomei CHEN

Honor King: End Racism, 1968, on display at Rising Above: The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, on Display for the first time outside of the United States, at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong [08DECEMBER2016 THE COLLECTOR POST MAGAZINE] SCMP / Xiaomei CHEN

Iron female slave shackles, manufactured circa 1850 at Rising Above: The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, on Display for the first time outside of the United States, at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong [08DECEMBER2016 THE COLLECTOR POST MAGAZINE] SCMP / Xiaomei CHEN

Photograph of the Dr. Martin Luther King, JR memorial procession, Ernest Withers, silver print 1968, showing people carrying Honor King: End Racism placards, at Rising Above: The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, on Display for the first time outside of the United States, at the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong [08DECEMBER2016 THE COLLECTOR POST MAGAZINE] SCMP / Xiaomei CHEN

Hong Kong treated to rare collection of African American art and history

A copy of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, by Phillis Wheatley, published in 1773.

This handout image show Cultivators (2000) is a painting by Samuel L. Dunson featuring the Kinsey family. Photo / The Kinsey Collection [01DECEMBER2016 FEATURES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]

This handout image show 1892 copy of Twelve Years a Slave, a memoir by Solomon Northup. Photo / The Kinsey Collection [01DECEMBER2016 FEATURES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]

This handout image show a group photo of (in the front row, L to R) Bernard and Shirly Kinsey and their son Khalil; University of Hong Kong president Peter Mathieson (2nd row in left) and Clifford Hart (2nd from left, in 2nd row), photo taken at the Residence of the US Consul-General in Hong Kong earlier this year. Photo / The Kinsey Collection [01DECEMBER2016 FEATURES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]

This handout image show John Brown Series 8 (1977) by Jacob Lawrence . Photo / The Kinsey Collection [01DECEMBER2016 FEATURES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT]

Hong Kong outing for exhibition that aims to rewrite black American history

<p>City will be first outside the United States to see the Kinsey Collection of art and artefacts, including evidence the first African Americans were free men, not slaves. HKU to research the issue</p>

This handout image shows Bernard Kinsey introduces his collection of African American art and historic documents and objects. MANDATORY CREDIT Lawerence Ng [07MAY2016 FEATURES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ONLINE]

US consul general Clifford Hart left looks on as Bernard Kinsey introduces his collection of African American art and history. Photos: Lawerence Ng

New museum dedicated to African-American history

Construction work is ongoing on the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Photo: AP

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Rising Above: the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection features artefacts related to the experience and contributions of black people to the American story


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