Fashion, Resistance, and Black Liberation: 1970s and Today
APRIL 2022 – MAY 2022/MARY ALICE GALLEY
From the 1970s to today, Black Americans have continued to fight for equity within white society through personal fashions, styles, and aesthetics. Members of the Black Panther Party and other activists developed and wore different styles representing Black liberation. These activists contributed to soul style development by wearing berets, pins, patches, leather and dark colors. Today, Black Americans who are part of The Black Lives Matter movement are also engaging in style narratives of resistance such as shirts with powerful statements. The Black Lives Matter movement is about conquering economic, racial, and social injustice in society. Our exhibition compares two time periods of Black fashion by incorporating apparel and accessories that captures the ways individuals use fashion in resistance movement development.
Curated by (in reverse alphabetical order)
Ellie Everlasting Vo, undergraduate student, Psychology
Dorothy Vernon, undergraduate student, Apparel, Merchandising, and Design
Amanda Ortiz-Pellot, undergraduate student , Speech Communication
Taylor Moore, undergraduate student, Sociology
Honor Edmonds, undergraduate student, Apparel, Merchandising, and Design
This exhibition is the culminating project in the course AESHM 462X Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Politics, and Resistance movements. The students developed, curated, and installed the entire exhibition.