Although the irony is not lost on us that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls on the forty-seventh presidential inauguration, EbonNia and Black Palette Art Gallery provide beacons of communal light and hope…. We must remain a kind, resilient people who are not afraid to be vocal and broadcast empathy. We are never too old to learn and embrace new information.
By Janyce Denise Glasper
My introduction to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. began with the same coloring book that Dayton Public Schools gave us every January. Revolutionary high school teachers peeled off the elementary desensitization, showing our teenage eyes raw footage from Henry Hampton’s “Eyes on the Prize” documentary series between required readings of King’s “I Have a Dream” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” A framed, autographed “Selma” film poster hangs in my room, appreciation for Ava DuVernay depicting King’s proficient elocution and nonviolent tactics while also portraying him as a multifaceted human being. I recently learned through art that Dr. King came to Dayton, Ohio around the time of the city’s greatest population peak. My mother’s family— based in Atlanta, Georgia— hadn’t even arrived yet.
On Sunday, November 29, 1964, snowfall caused thirty-five-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s hour delay to the University of Dayton’s Fieldhouse, a large, expensive structure built primarily for the college’s sporting events. That night, King received a key to the city and addressed a crowd of almost seven thousand people, repeatedly stressing that “we have a long, long way to go.” Throughout his Dayton speech— the rich, oral recording archived on SoundCloud— Dr. King spoke from his heart with the fire expected from a minister. He engages an enthralled crowd, his powerful voice containing nuances of warmth and somberness. Sensitive topics include the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama that killed Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Denise McNair and injured twenty-two people including Sarah Collins Rudolph, Emmett Till’s senseless murder in Drew, Mississippi, and the true foe called segregation.
Today, it remains difficult to untie the psychological bonds of racism, misogyny, and bigotry from the brainwashed minds of those taught by their communities to keep separatist logic afloat. The scariest part is that many twist religion into a dangerous weapon in order to justify hatred— something that Dr. King realized. This makes the path towards a nonviolent future seem impossible. “Many Negroes lost faith in themselves,” Dr. King said, his tone softening. “Many came to feel that perhaps they were less than human, that perhaps they were inferior.”
Sixty years later, in the Wright-Dunbar Historic District west of downtown Dayton, EbonNia Gallery and Black Palette Art Gallery co-host “Visual Voices: An Exhibition by African Americans Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1964 Dayton, Ohio Speech.” EbonNia founder Willis “Bing” Davis expressed in his curator’s statement, that he views artists as “griots, visual storytellers who have the creative ability and skill to help the viewer see, feel, and think beyond the surface of things.” This special collaboration funded by the Charles Kettering Foundation defines how far blackness has exceeded in breaking free from slavery’s intention to dehumanize Black intelligence and integrity. Thirteen contemporary artists channel Dr. King’s impact in their own distinctive styles. They take the physical tools— paint, graphite, found objects, clay, charcoal, etc.— and render forth thought-provoking images, revealing the full breadth of Black pride. The values that slave masters of old imposed on their subjects— and hoped to instill on the legacies of those doomed subjects— no longer bear toxic weight.
EbonNia Gallery, established in 2004, connects to Davis’s artist studio and houses the first portion of the Dr. King exhibition. Davis, a retired educator, curator, and scholar, is prominently collected across the globe. “There is a Balm West Gilead Dayton,” Davis’s mixed media assemblage piece, suggests sorrow has a strength, an ingrained vitality. Grief can bring us closer and pull us into a united front. Protected behind display glass, four gold utensils, wired devices that almost mimic safety pins, tiny metallic containers similar to lip gloss pots, Ohio Buckeye Dust, and African Shea butter are among the spread. The curious element is the “LOTTA TEARS” container, the tenderly worded label punching the gut. It states in capitalized letters: “TEARS FROM THE LEFT EYES OF BLACK MOTHERS AND OTHER MOTHERS OF COLOR THAT HAVE LOST A CHILD TO GUN VIOLENCE. THIS STRONG AND POTENT LIQUID IS ONE OF THE MAN INGREDIENTS USED IN THE BALM OF GILEAD IN WEST DAYTON. IT IS USE AT THE LEVEL OF 3,5, OR 7 DROPS ON DUE TO ITS HIGH CONCENTRATION ENERGY AND HEALING POWER.”
Furthermore, Dr. King said, “not only has the Negro come a long, long way in reevaluating his own intrinsic worth, if we are true to the facts, we must admit that the whole nation has come a long, long way in extending the frontiers of civil rights.” With Davis works surrounded by other artists: Karen Brame, Erin Smith, Kevin Harris, Abner Cope, and James Pate, this brightly lit space at EbonNia Gallery pleads for an urgent breath. This tender curation requires a moment of silence for those we’ve lost in the journey.
The newer Black Palette Art Gallery was founded in 2023 by award-winning visual artist James Pate and his partner, Shola Odumade, a phenomenal former dancer and current grants administrator for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. In this space, the unstereotypical narratives continue. Each composition propels viewers to perceive the parallels between the artist’s optical forms and the weight of King’s words. For example, Pate’s emotionally charged charcoal drawings from his “Critical Race Analytics” series makes startling connections between slavery shackles and modern-day handcuffs. Dwayne Daniel’s “Healing Waters” highlights the misuse of religious text in a pastel hued, geometrical digital painting. Reginald Harmon’s “Portrait of a King” captures Dr. King’s multitudes as a leader and an activist. Cliff Darrett, Craig Screven, Morris T. Howard, Bing Davis, and Breanna Cole also add dialogue, delivering imperative metaphors that will stay on the mind long after the body leaves the gallery.
Overall, the exhibition is intense, well-researched, and beautiful. The population in Dayton has gone down a whopping sixty plus percent since Dr. King’s visit. Those who remain here need opportunities to view Gem City’s historical value. We have incredible leadership in the most necessary of places— two distinctive art galleries. It lies in the artists, the documenters of past, present, and future.
Although the irony is not lost on us that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls on the forty-seventh presidential inauguration, EbonNia and Black Palette Art Gallery provide beacons of communal light and hope. The four-year term promises to inflict further harm to the most vulnerable communities and spread anti-truth propaganda. Injustices stretch beyond the United States to Gaza, Sudan, and other genocide-impacted areas in the world. EbonNia and Black Palette Art Gallery promote art’s ability to arouse questions and advocate for positive change. We must remain a kind, resilient people who are not afraid to be vocal and broadcast empathy. We are never too old to learn and embrace new information. King said to Daytonians, “love is understanding, creating redemptive goodwill for all men. This is the kind of love that I believe can guide us through this period of transition and lead us to a greater day. And this is what we say when we truly become committed to non-violence.”
“Visual Voices: An Exhibition by African Americans Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1964 Dayton, Ohio Speech” is up at both galleries until February 2, 2025.
Janyce Denise Glasper is a Dayton, Ohio based multidisciplinary artist, writer, and independent scholar focused on highlighting the historical contributions of Black women visual artists. She obtained her BFA in drawing from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and her post baccalaureate certificate and MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; primarily concentrating in painting and writing. Her writings have appeared in RaceBaitr, Black Youth Project, Wear Our Voice Mag, and other publications. Currently, she is a remote contributing arts writer for Philadelphia based artblog and runs two personal blogs: femfilmrogue and Black Women Make Art.