One of the most revolutionary acts for black women in American history has been to readily and fearlessly take up space. The subtle exclamation of “The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” — a mini-exhibit in the Special Collections Library curated by Prof. Corinne Field’s Fall 2016 WGS 4559 students — exists as an undeniable reminder of the inherent resistance black women express from a young age.
“The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” is established through three exhibits: “Identity, Representation and Misrepresentation”; “Ownership, Authorship and Voice”; and, naturally, “Resistance.” Each artifact of the exhibit was curated by a different student of the WGS 4559 cohort, offering a variety of voices to match the diversity of the narrative of black girlhood.
“The Sounds and Silences” is nothing more or less than it claims to be. The exhibit displays pain — something that is almost latent to black girlhoods around the world — in its most visceral literary and artistic forms. At the same time, when cycling through each segment of the work in its entirety, one feels the “Hallelujah Anyhow” of blackness, the “Still I Rise” and the whole so much greater than the sum of its parts fraught with subjugation and agony.
The section of the exhibit devoted to “Identity, Representation and Misrepresentation” contains an eclectic mix of the aforementioned visual and literary elements. Its contents survey the impacts of colorism, ascribed promiscuity and the eventual discovery of womanism.
One notably powerful photo, presented by fourth-year College student and student curator Emma McCallie, depicts a young Bernice Wright holding a platter of large tomatoes. Bernice stares straight ahead at the capturer of the photo without a smile on her face but with evident strength in her body. What a true testament to the claim of identity and representation of black girlhood — muted strength and reticent resilience.
“Ownership, Authorship and Voice” is perhaps the most poignant category in its effective description of the struggles within the phenomenon of black girlhood. This segment displays no photos or art, but rather a collection of written works, both primary and secondary sources. As the only part of the exhibit without a visual component, third-year College student and student curator Jordan Moorefield’s contribution is striking. A photo depicts two smiling young black women who were subjected to forced sterilization in 1963 by the Fauquier County Maternity Clinic. The image is jarring, a startling presence of joy in an unspeakable void of violence.
It is clear that the culmination of the exhibit is found in “Resistance.” The description of the segment begins with a quote by Toni Morrison, a literary curator of the sounds and silences of black girlhood herself. The exhibit pays homage to the advocacy work of Julian Bond, a deceased civil rights activist and professor at the University who penned an essay, curated in the exhibit and titled “Self-Defense Against Rape: The Joanne Little Case”. The essay was written in support of a black girl who faced life imprisonment for killing her rapist in self-defense.
The “Resistance” segment concludes the exhibit perfectly — while pain persists with rage by its side, so is there hope. So is there laughter. So is there a will to be a girl, to be black and to be alive in the most breathtaking of ways that can be captured permanently in the spirits of countless black girls.
“The Sounds and Silences of Black Girlhood” will remain in the Special Collections Library until March 24, one week after the Global Black Girlhood conference held at the University from March 17-18.
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