THRIVING! HARLEM AS HOMEPLACE

Thriving! Harlem as Homeplace is the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem’s inaugural exhibition located in the museum’s brand-new temporary exhibition gallery. Thriving! will launch with the historic grand opening of the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem on November 14, 2026. The new exhibition pays tribute to cherished places in iconic Harlem, to the communities that contributed to its enduring legacy, and to those who continue to energize Harlem neighborhoods. The exhibition grounds visitors in Harlem, one of the major epicenters of Black history and invites them to remember, reflect, and imagine how to create and sustain vibrant neighborhoods. The exhibition features Harlem-born artist, D. Lammie-Hanson's stunning work Dared to Be Black and Shining, which represents her precious experiences of growing up in Harlem.

D. Lammie-Hanson is a Harlem-born, Chicago-based artist who works in metalpoint - a technique in which Hanson uses silver or gold wire to craft intricate portraits on a prepared surface. Using graphite as her canvas, Dared to Be Black and Shining is a love offering to Harlem. It is exhibited in the Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem's inaugural exhibition Thriving! Harlem as Homeplace. Lammie-Hanson recreates her childhood neighborhood with portraits of her family as the subjects. Dared To Be Black and Shining, invites the viewer up close to see into the Harlem of her youth.