An exhibition exploring extraordinary materials collected by Walter and Linda Evans now in the Beinecke’s care, “Douglass, Baldwin, Harrington” celebrates three towering figures of Black history, art, and culture: Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, and Ollie Harrington. The Evans collections together bring political and cultural history into close engagement with arts and letters. These collections and the figures they feature demonstrate powerful ways creative work may serve as a form of social justice advocacy in ways that continue to inspire.

“Douglass, Baldwin, Harrington” honors Walter and Linda Evans and their work advocating for, documenting, and celebrating Black arts in America. Their ongoing leadership in public dialogue about the need for more inclusive American arts and cultural heritage collections, and for greater public access to the work of Black artists, serves as an inspiration to all of us.

The exhibition has three parts:

Frederick Douglass: Family and Legacy
Curated by Melissa Barton, Curator, Drama and Prose, Yale Collection of American Literature and James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters
Ground floor, south side of building & Mezzanine (upstairs)

“Love Jimmy”: Letters from James Baldwin to Mary Painter, 1957
Curated by Nancy Kuhl, Curator, Poetry, Yale Collection of American Literature and James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters
Ground floor, north side of the building

Ollie Harrington: Expressing the Revolution
Curated by Kassidi Jones, Ph.D. Candidate, Yale Departments of African American Studies and English
Mezzanine (upstairs)

Exhibition labels

Educators guide