Outside Cultural Events 1 : Black Arts Baltimore

I watched the livestream of the Black Arts Baltimore event. It was an hour-long live session by historian Mary Rizzo, in which she discussed about her research into Black artists activists of Baltimore in the 60s and 70s. She discussed about the less archived artists that weren’t recorded by general history and the much more nuanced aspects of the artists. From what I understood from her talk, a big message and a core of what she is trying to get across is the idea of a standard history and counter history. A standard history means the general knowledge regarding the history of a certain time or place while counter history is viewing history from a very different point of view; not changing what actually happened but coming to a different conclusion regarding them. This relates well into what the actual event was about; the 1968 Baltimore Riot being considered the defining narrative of the 60s in Baltimore but how that doesn’t tell the full story of that era.

What this doesn’t take into account the huge art boom that Baltimore had during this decade; there were various black art exhibits, museums, fashion shows etc. According to an editorial note in a Poetry Chat book, ‘In This Corner’, “Poetry and Art are enjoying their best years in Baltimore." According to Mary Rizzo, her counter history that she wants to tell is that of Black Baltimorean Artists from the 60s and 70s using their art and culture to empower the black working class. People like Sam Cornish using their experiences to create institutions like Chicory to give a voice to the average Baltimoreans. The soul school was created as an alternative to Baltimore public schools for many black people. It was a school created that used art to empower and challenge the dominant social structure of America at the time. She brings up the fact that these artists and institutions are hard to find out about due to the information not being archived well. I learnt much about the many arts institutions Baltimore had and though I wish she talked about some more of the institutions, it might be difficult for her due to the information of these events not being well documented.