This report is part of WTOP’s coverage of Black History Month. Read more stories on WTOP.
It’s been about a year since Black Lives Matter artwork was removed from a fence in Lafayette Square to be preserved. Now, the artwork from that national symbol of protest is being displayed by the Library of Congress in a new online exhibit.
Activists, protestors and archivists have joined the effort, including Aliza Leventhal, who heads the technical services section in the library’s prints and photographs division. She worked with activists to make it happen.
“The visuals matter, the color choices matter, and now here we are with the whole collection online,” she said.
The fence went up around Lafayette Square amid the protests over George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020. Hundreds of signs ended up on that fence as the protests continued. Some lasted months, while others were torn down by counter-protesters and replaced.
Volunteers removed around 800 a year ago. Since then, some have gone to the Library of Congress and Howard University. Others were exhibited in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year as part of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Leventhal worked to bring the online collection together through a digitalization process that commemorates the one-year anniversary of its removal. It features signs reading everything from “I can’t breathe” to “’Matter’ is the Minimum.”
“It started real spontaneously. I worked with activists to figure out the best way to document it. We labeled all the panels,” she said.
Leventhal was able to collect hundreds of items. Now, with everything online, she hopes that as visitors view these images, the conversation continues across the nation.
“I would like people to explore this and acknowledge that this is part of a much larger conversation,” she said.
You can view the collection of artwork online.
