BioArtDesignEvents

What is Black Historians’ Department?

The Black Historians’ Department (BHD) is an experiment towards understanding the historical methods that belong within Black communities and speculating structures of support capable of responding to the specific needs and desires of Black historians.

First installed at The Library Company of Philadelphia as a part of the Beyond Glass Cases project, BHD utilizes assemblage installations to create comfortable communal spaces for Black Historians’ to convene. It is a speculation of what would be different about History as a form if it were built around the ways that Black people hold and exchange information with each other and what it means to amplify and support those processes. It is an exploration of the care and practice that exists amongst Black people in our relationships, families, communities, food, studies, games, music, dances, lands, spaces, etc.
The Black Historians’ Department (BHD) is a conduit for investigations into a contemporary Black historical methodology. Communities often left out of traditional historiography are invited to engage their collections, stories, and knowledge by way of social events, workshops, and installations.

The future of BHD is unwritten but guided by the intent to create material support systems for Black people to keep their things and know that we’re worth remembering on our own terms.