The NAACP Black Legacy Project Seeks Submissions

The Portland Chapter of the NAACP is looking for submissions from local artists and historians for the 2016 NAACP Black Legacy Project History Symposium and Art Exhibit.

This new event honors community members who promote Black art, culture and history to break down racial stereotypes and discrimination in Portland.

 “The Black community in Portland has been pushed out, ignored, overshadowed and so this is a way we thought we could … bring their voices to the forefront,” said NAACP Program Coordinator Melissa Lang.

The symposium will occur Nov. 12. at the historic Billy Webb Elks Lodge. The lodge hosted the Culture Club and Oregon Association of Colored Women's Club “The Negro History Tea and Art Exhibit” -- an inspiration for the Black Legacy Project to bring together art and history.

The project is open to all art forms as well as all works of history. Both original solo work and proposed collaborative works are welcome. Lang said the NAACP is looking for a diversity of voices to contribute work --people of many ages, those new to Portland, those who have a longstanding history here, people with amateur or professional credentials.

“We really want the levels of expertise to be varied,” Lang said. “We highly encourage folks at every levels of history or writing or artwork to apply.”

Interested people should submit an application to [email protected] by Sept. 15. Applications should include a summary of one’s background, artist’s statement or historian credentials in pdf document of 500 words or less. Applicants should also include some digital representation of the artwork or history project.

Creatives may also receive a stipend of up to $300, and a chance to receive a monetary award of $100 for the best work in either history or art.

The NAACP Black Legacy Project has a community committee of artists, historians and community elders curating the event. Committee members include PSU Black Studies professor Darrell Millner, Charlotte Rutherford, daughter of Otto and Verdell Rutherford and Donnell Alexander, local author and Oregon Humanities Conversation Project facilitator. 

Artists will also have an opportunity to sell their work at the symposium for no fee. Their work will be promoted on social media and on the NAACP website.

For more information, visit the NAACP Black Legacy Project Facebook page.