In 1996, an exhibition entitled “Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists,” was produced for the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s contribution to the Olympic games held in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, Jontyle Theresa Robinson (NHC Fellow, 2022–23) is undertaking a multi-tiered initiative to reflect upon and advance the work of that exhibition thirty years later.
Jontyle Theresa Robinson is curator and assistant professor at the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University. 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.” 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.Images: Faith Ringgold, “Marlon Riggs: Tongues Untied, A Painted Story Quilt,” 1994; Betye Saar, “Watching,” 1995; Varnette P. Honeywood, “The Caregiver,” 1995