Civil Rights History at the National Portrait Gallery, A Guided Tour

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC has a large collection of artwork with images of Americans from the Colonial era to the 21st century and on this tour, we’ll focus on the portraits of individuals connected to our nation's civil rights history.

When many people think about civil rights history, they focus on the years between the mid 1950s and 1960s, but on this tour we're going to take a broader view looking back to the mid 19th century and going into the 21st.

We’ll start with looking at portraits of 19th century individuals who were involved in the anti-slavery and women's rights struggles. Next we’ll go through the “America’s Presidents” gallery and discuss some of the major events in civil rights history and conclude the tour in “The Struggle for Justice” gallery which contains a number of portraits of 20th century civil rights leaders including a sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. whose life, accomplishments and aspirations our country commemorates every January.

The tour will focus mostly on the history and biographies of civil rights figures although I will talk about a few of the artists and the broader context of their work.

The National Portrait Gallery is hosting its own civil rights-oriented event called "A Day of Action" which will be held on Sunday January 26 from 1-4 pm. You can find more information on that event at the museum's website at https://npg.si.edu/

This is an in-person tour and will not be broadcast online.

This program is led by Harry Phillips, who has been leading tours of Arlington National Cemetery and other locations in the Washington DC area since 2015.
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Meeting Point: I'll be near the center of the Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery (the building also houses the Smithsonian Amercian Art Museum). I'll be wearing a red baseball cap with a white curly "W" and carrying a tan shoulder bag.

If you are running late, look for us at the meeting place where I will be doing the introduction. Our next stop will be galleries E123 and E112 (on the first floor) that have portraits from the mid 1800s and from there we'll go to the "America's Presidents" gallery.

For those taking the Metro please check the Metro website to see where track work might be taking place.

Disclaimer: Participants are fully responsible for their own safety and not the event organizer: Washington, DC History & Culture.

There is no upfront cost to the tour, but I will accept gratuities at the conclusion.
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I look forward to seeing you!