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Reckoning showcases the potent role of visual art in African American protest history. Featuring Black artists working in a range of media—including Amy Sherald, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Shaun Leonard, and David Hammons—the book considers art that exemplifies resilience in times of conflict, as well as the ritual of creation, and the defiant pleasure of healing.

 

Reckoning explores the ongoing struggles Black Americans have faced in their pursuit to enjoy the fundamental rights and freedoms promised in the Constitution to citizens of the United States. Drawn from the Smithsonian Museum’s permanent collection, the featured works respond to the dual crises of Covid-19 and systemic racism that shaped 2020, a period that has been called one of reckoning, as the world witnessed the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other African Americans, leading to some of the largest protests in US history.

 

This publication was edited by Michelle D. Commander and features a foreword by Kevin Young, and texts by Aaron Bryant, Tuliza Fleming, Amy Sherald, Bisa Butler, and Deborah Willis.