Jontyle Theresa Robinson (NHC Fellow, 2022–23)
Project Title
Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists, 1996 and Revelations from Bearing Witness, 2026
UNCF/Mellon Faculty Fellowship, 2022–23
Curator of the Legacy Museum and Assistant Professor, Tuskegee University
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Jontyle Theresa Robinson is curator and assistant professor at the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University. At the National Humanities Center, she will be working on Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists, 1996 and Revelations from Bearing Witness, 2026.
Her groundbreaking research on Archibald Motley at the Chicago History Center resulted in New York City’s Kenkeleba Gallery “Three Masters: Archibald Motley, Eldzier Cortor, and Hughie Lee Smith.” In 1991, the Chicago History Center mounted “The Art of Archibald John Motley, Jr.” from her decade-long research which was also the foundation for the Whitney Museum's exhibition “Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist” on view from October 2015–January 2016.
In 2016, Robinson conceptualized the Alliance of HBCU Museums & Galleries, a coalition of twelve Historically Black College and University Museums and Galleries. She is the inaugural director.
She curated and coauthored “Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists,” the first exhibition/catalogue of contemporary African American women artists touring America, for the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art's contribution to the 1996 Olympics. She is presently conducting research for the thirty-year anniversary of “Bearing Witness,” a digital version of the 1996 exhibition, and an exhibition and catalogue called “Revelations from Bearing Witness” for 2026.
Selected Publications
- Robinson, Jontyle Theresa. “Diversification of Art Conservation: Diverting the Crisis.” International Review of African American Art 30, no. 1 (2020).
- Robinson, Jontyle Theresa. Titus Kaphar: KNOCKOUT. Tuskegee, AL: The Legacy Museum, 2020.
- Robinson, Jontyle Theresa. The Patient, The Project, The Partnership: The Mass Production and Distribution of HeLa Cells at Tuskegee University. Tuskegee, AL: The Legacy Museum, 2019.
- Robinson, Jontyle Theresa. The Gathering: Tuskegee University and the 1890 Land-Grant Institutions. Tuskegee, AL: The Legacy Museum, 2014.
- Robinson, Jontyle Theresa. Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists. New York: Spelman College and Rizzoli International Publications, 1996.