The immersive art exhibition "Black Gold: Stories Untold" opens at Fort Point, a Civil War-era military fort in San Francisco, aiming to highlight the overlooked contributions of Black Californians from the Gold Rush to Reconstruction. Featuring 25 newly commissioned works by 17 artists, it invites visitors to rethink historical narratives. Key Jo Lee emphasizes the exhibition's multi-sensory experience that connects visitors to history. The exhibition, curated by Cheryl Haines, reveals significant yet unrecognized stories of Black pioneers, showcasing a legacy that extends beyond enslavement to adventure and resilience.
"I want visitors to have a truly multi-sensory experience," said Key Jo Lee, Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD). "To take in what it means to be in this space, to hear the wind, to touch the coldness of the stone... you are actually echoing history and making a new history in this place."
This is a place where we can tell the stories of Black pioneers," Lee said. "We often think of African Americans in enslavement, which is also an important component of our history, but so too is this legacy of being the adventurer."
"There were a lot of stories that weren't being told about people from that period of The Gold Rush, the Civil War, up until Reconstruction," Haines said. "I realized there were phenomenal people doing important things whose histories have been neglected."
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