NEWS FEATURE: New Smithsonian exhibit showcases black church diversity

c. 1998 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ An exhibit exploring the diversity of the African-American religious experience _ its churches, temples and home altars _ has opened for an 18-month showing at the Smithsonian Institution.”Speak to My Heart: Communities of Faith and Contemporary African-American Life”fills a wing of one of the city’s top tourist attractions […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ An exhibit exploring the diversity of the African-American religious experience _ its churches, temples and home altars _ has opened for an 18-month showing at the Smithsonian Institution.”Speak to My Heart: Communities of Faith and Contemporary African-American Life”fills a wing of one of the city’s top tourist attractions _ the Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall.

The exhibit, which opened Friday (May 22) and runs through March 2000, is framed on each end by symbols of the tradition and challenges within the African-American church community.


Inside one entrance, a life-size mannequin of an African-American usher in a white uniform stands ready to welcome visitors just as ushers grace the foyers of churches in a variety of denominations.

On the opposite end of the exhibit stand two brass doors from a predominantly black church in Houston _ doors once installed in a segregated movie theater there.”We could not go through those doors at the theater,”reads a quote in the exhibit from the Rev. William Lawson of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.”So we had to have them so that they would be open to all who might desire to enter.” The space between these symbols of the church is filled with artifacts, displays and videos depicting not only the variety of faith within the African-American religious framework but also the array of services provided by black faith groups.”We refer to the institution … as the black church, but truly there is variety, diversity, certain levels of uniqueness,”said exhibit curator Gail Lowe.”There are Christian and non-Christian, traditional and nontraditional communities of faith _ all within the African-American community.” Lowe said despite the variety, most religious institutions have key aspects in common, such as serving as a focal point for neighborhoods in urban and suburban areas.”Historically, and once again now, these churches and mosques and temples and groupings and gatherings are in the forefront of leadership in finding solutions to societal problems and meeting the challenges that face individuals every day,”she said.

The exhibit is part of a continuing effort by the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture to depict unique institutions of African-American life. And portions of it are included on the museum’s website at http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums/anacost/anachome.htm.

The array of religious life on display ranges from the white temple shoes of African Hebrew Israelites _ a group known for its vegetarian practices and its study of the presence of Africans in the Bible _ to the Koran, the Muslim holy book, open to a passage on the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

A home altar, decorated with symbols of ancient African traditions as well as elements of the three major monotheistic faiths, captures the contemporary practice of individuals blending several faiths for private worship. The altar, designed for meditation and prayer within the home, includes shells, old family photos and a small wicker basket of smooth stones.”So very many people have personal altars, no matter what their community of faith,”said Lowe.

Aspects of the altar, such as shells, often mark the owners'”passage through geography and time,”she said.

The exhibit also incorporates the sounds of the black religious experience _ from gospel music and spirituals to the sound of women working in a church kitchen, rattling pots and pans and talking about adding cinnamon and brown sugar to their favorite recipes. The kitchen often serves as a site for community outreach.


The exhibit also showcases the commitment to service lived out by communities of faith _ from AIDS ministries to schools to aiding the homeless.”People come together in communities of faith because individually they’re looking for a spiritual anchor _ they’re trying to develop that part of their total being,”said Lowe.”As they work together at this, I think there’s an energy that’s created and it cannot stay inside the four walls of the … church building. It has to go back out and it’s that energy that’s transforming and reclaiming a neighborhood.” The transformation of communities by churches is highlighted with models of city blocks that have turned into entrepreneurial centers. For example, the West Angeles Church of God in Christ changed the Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles from a car dealership row to a variety of business and social operations, most of which are supported by the church.

Sanctuaries often are part of a campus or neighborhood that includes low or moderate-income housing and community services.”The buildings are open `24-7′ (24 hours a day, seven days a week) for community meetings and dance class and exercise class and health care and feeding … and programs, plays,”she said.”Communities grow up around the church building.” (OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE.)

Lowe said the exhibit stems from the museum’s efforts to assist church historians in preserving local church history and has been augmented by the advice of an interfaith panel of consultants. In addition, the Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based foundation that is one of the nation’s largest funders of religion research, gave $500,000 to the project, said Anacostia Museum director Steven Newsome.

Lowe, a member of a Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, also believes divine intervention played a part in the five years of preparation for the exhibit, which will eventually include an audio CD and traveling exhibit.”In secular terms, I’d say serendipity, but I know that in truth there has been a guiding spirit to this project that has been very positive, very supportive,”said Lowe.”And even when we didn’t know which way to turn, the Spirit led us.” Although the exhibit is”not by any means an exhaustive catalog,”Lowe hopes it will give visitors a slice of the black religious experience and something with which they can connect.”We wanted to raise some issues, give people some insights, peel away some layers,”she said.”I think that no matter what background, what ethnicity, what part of the country, any visitor to this exhibition will find themselves in here somehow, even if they don’t consider themselves churchgoers.”

DEA END BANKS

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!