NMAAHC’s ‘Forces For Change’ Exhibition Explores Black Women’s Activism

By Okla Jones · Updated July 25, 2024

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opened a new exhibition titled, Forces for Change: Mary McLeod Bethune and Black Women’s Activism. The 640-square-foot exhibition explores the legacy of Mary McLeod Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women, as well as the strategies Black women have used to enact change through education and other methods.

Forces for Change highlights new stories relating to Black women activists through 35 objects, 75 images and two digital-media pieces. Visitors can immerse themselves with interactive media, infographics and objects belonging to Dorothy Height’s, Etta Moten Barnett, Sybrina Fulton, and more. The space connects Bethune’s legacy across time to other Black women who have been inspired by and added to her legacy. This exhibition elevates the stories of Black women advocating for social change dating from the turn of the 20th century to the present.

“Against incalculable odds, the women featured in this exhibition built institutions of learning, ignited social and political movements, formed enduring organizations, and created beauty in multifarious art forms, all the while representing their country nationally and internationally,” said Tulani Salahu-Din, NMAAHC’s Museum Specialist, Language and Literature. “This re-curated space in the museum is solely dedicated to telling their stories of vision, commitment, fortitude, and courage and to celebrating their impact as forces for positive change in the United States and around the world.”

One of the standout pieces in the exhibition is an 8-foot-tall plaster sculpture of Bethune, which served as the original model for the final statue carved in marble by artist Nilda Comas for the U.S. Capitol Building’s National Statuary Hall. In 2022, Bethune became the first African American honored with a state-commissioned statue in the U.S. Capitol Building’s National Statuary Hall Collection.

This exhibition represents a dynamic reenvisioning of the “Bethune Room,” a special gallery dedicated to the story of Bethune and the National Council of Negro Women, which first opened in 2016 as part of the Making a Way Out of No Way permanent exhibition. Forces for Change will offer new perspectives on Black women as activists and illuminate the history of Black women affecting social change.

Forces for Change: Mary McLeod Bethune and Black Women’s Activism is currently on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. For more information, visit nmaahc.si.edu/ForcesForChange.