Black Curators Matter: Conversations on Art and Change

Available July 2026 Edited by Kellie Jones and Tumelo Mosaka The transformative impact of Black curators on American art and museums since the 1970s as told by the visionaries at the forefront of the change.The relationship between Black Americans and U.S. art museums has historically been fraught and hard-won. In the late 1960s, the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition and other groups organized protests at major art museums, calling for the inclusion of Black artists and curators. Such advocacy led to acquisitions and exhibitions by Black artists at important institutions and spurred the establishment of museums and cultural organizations promoting Black art and culture. Today, Black curators hold significant positions at institutions nationwide. Black Curators Matter illuminates this critical history by spotlighting figures who have transformed the art world since the 1970s.This book presents illuminating conversations between six pioneering curators—Lowery Stokes Sims, Deborah Willis