Anacostia Community Museum

The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present

November 8, 2009 - July 4, 2010
Main Gallery
This traveling exhibition looks at the history, culture, and art of Afro-Mexicans, beginning in the colonial era and continuing to present day. Highlights of the exhibition include "casta" paintings -- paintings used to delineate racial categories and the ever-increasing complexity of racial mixture -- and discussions of African slavery in Mexico and the hero/slave rebel Yanga; artifacts related to the traditions and popular culture of the Afro-Mexicans; and many paintings, masks, photography, and other works of art.

The African Presence in Mexico also includes a section on "Who Are We Now? Roots, Resistance, and Recognition," which charts the history of the relationship between Mexicans and African Americans in the United States, as well as the relationship between African Americans and the country of Mexico.

Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia

November 10, 2008 - Indefinitely
Program Room
Please Note: Call first to check the monthly viewing schedule as the exhibition may not be available when an activity is taking place in the Program Room: 202-633-4820 (recording).

After a recent successful run at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., a condensed version of this popular exhibition is on view at the museum. From Reconstruction to the second half of the 20th century, baseball, the great American pastime, was played in Washington, D.C., on segregated fields. This exhibition looks at the phenomenal popularity and community draw of this sport when played by African Americans. Featured are such personalities as Josh Gibson and "Buck" Leonard, star players of the Negro Leagues most celebrated team, the Washington Homestead Grays. The show also highlights community teams that gave rise to the various amateur, collegiate, and semi-pro black baseball teams and leagues.

Outdoor Sculpture: Real Justice by Allen Uzikee Nelson

- Permanent
Near front entrance
Real Justice, the museum's first public sculpture installed May, 26, 2004, was created by Washington metal sculptor Allen Uzikee Nelson. This 15-foot weathered iron sculpture is dedicated to the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and is reflective of African art, as Adinkra symbols are used to depict the justice system and aspects of Marshall's life.