The National Guard had occupied Delaware's largest city for nine months in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, and the trauma from both of these events left the Black community reeling, marking a moment in Wilmington's history that city residents still recall today.
Wilmington's turbulent history led to this exhibition. Why it's back usatoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usatoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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By Brother by Charles Searles 1967-1969. (Delaware Art Museum, Acquisition Fund, 2020)
A massive, groundbreaking Black art exhibition installed in 1971 in Wilmington will be recreated by the Delaware Art Museum next fall.
“Afro-American Images 1971: The Vision of Percy Ricks” will feature most of the works that were originally part of the ambitious exhibition “Afro-American Images 1971,” a show of about 130 works representing more than 60 artists installed 50 years ago in the Wilmington Armory (now St. Anthony’s Community Center).
The original show was created by Percy Ricks and Aesthetic Dynamics, Inc. a multiracial artist collective he founded. The reboot is a tribute to Ricks, a well-respected Wilmington artist and arts educator who died in 2008.