African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta revisits the works of W.E.B. Du Bois

More than a century after W.E.B. Du Bois used photographs and data to challenge the world’s view of Black life, a new exhibition at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta — developed in part by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — revisits and reimagines his groundbreaking 1900 Paris display, asking what has changed and what has endured.

The ADAMA opening builds on a Black History Month AJC project reported by Mirtha Donastorg and illustrated by Natrice Miller, which revisited Du Bois’ original work. Their data and photography also anchored a recent exhibition at the Clark Atlanta University Art Gallery.

“W. E. B. Du Bois Revisited: Re-Imagining Du Bois’ Work From ‘The Exhibit of American Negroes’” makes its debut at ADAMA on Friday for a special pop-up and salon experience.

The African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA), was launched by artist Fahamu Pecou to showcase local and international artists.

In homage to Du Bois’ vision of documenting Black American life following Emancipation, “W.E.B. Du Bois Revisited” illustrates how that existence has evolved over the past century.

Using comparative data compiled by Donastorg and images by Miller, the exhibition will open with a panel with the two, joined by historian Karcheik Sims-Alvarado. They will explore how art and storytelling shape social constructs and identity.

During a Paris exposition in 1900, Du Bois showcased his original work “The Exhibit of American Negroes” to articulate the advancement of Black Americans following the abolition of slavery. He chose to correct the narrative, rewrite misconceptions and demonstrate Black progress.

Many of the photographs he used in the exhibit were shot in Atlanta by Thomas Askew.

In hundreds of black-and-white images the exhibit documented elegant, tailored, prideful Black Americans, opposite of general caricatures peddled at the time in the media.

In February, Donastorg and Miller worked together to re-create that historical moment, to add to the story of how Black American life has continued to fold over the last 100 years.