Black Lives Matter: One Year Later

On June 7th, 2020, the city of Troy, NY would see 11,000+ people take to the streets of the “Collar City'‘ for the Black Lives Matter Rally and March.

Now one year later, and as the Black Lives Matter movement continues, we reflect on the impact this Rally had and continues to have on Troy, Rensselaer County, and the nation.

In Rensselaer County, across the nation, and around the world, protests have truly helped shape the world as we know it today and continue to do so, challenging our perceptions of the status quo.

On June 7th, 2020, the City of Troy saw over 11,000 people join together for the Rally for Black Lives led by Justice for Dahmeek alongside the Aya Rising Project, All of Us, and the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region, demonstrating once again the power of protest. In preparation for this event, many downtown buildings were boarded up and those coverings were used by local artists as a way to visually join the protest.

Acknowledging the importance of the Rally and the broader Black Lives Matter movement in our collective history, the Hart Cluett Museum committed itself, alongside the Arts Center of the Capital Region, to documenting and capturing the history of the moment so that generations to come can better understand how we, as a community, responded to the call to action.

Documenting History

The first step of this collaborative project, after recognizing the importance of the Rally and the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, was physically documenting the protest art that encompassed a significant portion of Downtown Troy.

There was a conscious effort to document the actual location where panels were installed along with record photographs of the panels once they were dismantled.

A sampling of the artwork captured in-situ can be seen here.

Collecting the Panels

Following the Rally, an effort to collect, preserve, and share the stories of this unique time was initiated. Since much of the material was “ephemera” and not created for longevity, getting photos and videos of the window boards, images from the Rally, and many other aspects of these times was critical to do while they were still readily available.

HCM and the Arts Center then asked local artists and other community members to contact us about protest posters and panels, signs, tee shirts and other items related to protests in awareness of how much of an intertwined part of our current history the Rally for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter Movement was (and still is). HCM also welcomed suggestions for any materials that help to highlight the voices that make up this moment in our history.

As a result, over 70 panels were collected and with the help of the New York State Museum, each panel was documented in high resolution with the intent of creating a permanent archive of the panels that will ultimately be made accessible by means still under discussion.

These are some images from the process.

Where we are now

While artists and community members were welcome to retrieve their own artwork following documentation efforts, many panels remain unclaimed. A selected group of these remaining panels are currently housed at an off-site facility.

Even with the intention of building a collection that best reflects these recent events, it was not possible to collect every panel. The Hart Cluett Museum is committed to reflecting the diversity of response to the Rally and the issues it has brought to light and is in the process of implementing programming that continues these very important conversations surrounding the Rally and the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement, thanks in part to a Vision Grant from Humanities NY.

Stay tuned for more about our IN FOCUS Forum programming later this year.