Serious sisters Washington’s MLK Jr. Library opens Black feminism exhibit

A new exhibit, “We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC” recently opened at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

The exhibit, which traces Black feminism in Washington, D.C., from the turn of the 20th century through the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement to today, runs until Sept. 15, 2024.

Curated by historians Sherie M. Randolph and Kendra T. Field, the exhibition focuses on the stories and voices of Black feminist organizers and theorists — including Pauli Murray, Anna Julia Cooper, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mary Treadwell, and Nkenge Touré — whose expansive work made a difference in the lives of Black women in their Washington, D.C., communities and for all people throughout the United States. Standing at the intersection of race, class and gender, Black feminists fought for a definition of freedom and liberation that extended beyond their individual circumstances — work that remains unfinished today.

“We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC” is on view on the first floor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., as part of a partnership between the National Women’s History Museum and DC Public Library.

Visit: The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is located at 901 G St N.W., Washington.

Details: The exhibit is free and open to the public; no registration or tickets are required. For an updated schedule, please visit: https://www.dclibrary. org/mlk.

Virginians age 18 and older who want to get into the state’s movie and television industry have a new opportunity as Oakwood Arts is preparing to launch the first registered apprenticeships.

The new initiative is a partnership between Oakwood Arts and the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s Registered Apprenticeship program, and is the state’s first registered apprenticeship focused on film and TV production.

“Our mission is to expand opportunities for underrepresented communities in the creative professions,” said Shannon Castleman, executive director of Oakwood Arts, in a statement. “This program expands our paths to that goal.”

Apprentices in the program, which will run from 12 to 18 months, will receive technical training in their chosen field and an hourly wage working in productions and work with industry-standard software and industry-specific equipment. Apprentices also will take supplemental courses through the Virginia Community College system.

The apprenticeship is an extension of the Oakwood Arts Job Education Training program launched two years earlier with the goal of bringing more underrepresented communities into Virginia’s movie and TV industry.

The application process is still under development and slated to open in the future. For more information, email shannon@oakwoodarts.org.

Well read

Mayor Levar M. Stoney stands with Amber Coleman of York County, center, who is a nurse anesthetist at Riverside Hospital in Newport News, during the African-American Book Festival at Richmond Diversity Center on Saturday, April 15. Ms. Coleman is the author of a children’s book, “Amber Dreams of Anesthesia,” which is about how she became a nurse anesthetist. The author’s children are children Dilan, 8, left, and Chole Coleman, 10. During the event, Mayor Stoney shared his relationship with reading, and how his grandmother and father were instrumental in making sure that he became a stronger reader.