Location: Walters’ Graham Auditorium
Registration is required.
Ninety years after the Walters’ founding collection was donated to the city of Baltimore and its residents, we invite audiences to join us for a conversation that interrogates the past while situating us in present-day Baltimore. In this conversation moderated by Michelle D. Wright, historian and professor of Africana Studies at Community College Baltimore County, we explore the interconnectedness of artistic, business, and social circles in Mount Vernon and surrounding neighborhoods in the past and present. Kristen Nassif, the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the Walters, will share her research about how William and Henry Walters’ business enterprises and social circles impacted their collections. Dr. Kate Drabinski, scholar and professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will share research about present-day Baltimore.
Depths of History is a program series that investigates and interrogates the problematic histories of museums and other institutions. This series reflects the Walters Art Museum’s commitment to making accessible the histories of its origins and the art that it stewards in order to ensure an environment of anti-racism, inclusivity, collaboration, and welcome for visitors, volunteers, and staff.
About the Guest Speakers:
Dr. Kate Drabinski is Principal Lecturer in Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at UMBC. She teaches courses in sexuality and queer theory, transgender studies, and theories of social change. She is co-editor with Nicole King and Joshua Davis of Baltimore Revisited: Stories of Inequality and Resistance in a U.S. City and is a board member of Baltimore Heritage. She leads walking tours about LGBTQ+, civil rights, and other histories in and of the city. She can also be found at her long-running bike blog, What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today.
Michelle Diane Wright was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland. She is the author of three books and several journal articles related to African American history. She has written extensively on the life and work of labor leader Lucy Parsons, focusing on the impact of her ethnic identity on her rhetoric. Currently, she is working on two projects. She is conducting research for a book project entitled Shades of Hilton; An Exploration of the People of Color at the Hilton Estate, and she is working on the Black history of Frederick County, Maryland. Michelle Diane Wright is a Professor of History and Africana Studies at CCBC and lives in Baltimore.
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