Society for the Preservation of Weeksville

a black and white image of a museum display featuring historical photographs of houses and Black people in formal attire — Lisa Smith, 1976

a black and white image of a museum display featuring a photo of a Black child and some houses — Lisa Smith, 1976

a black and white images of a museum display of photographs of Black children at school — Lisa Smith, 1976

Metropolitan Museum, New York City

“During my second semester Junior year, I entered and won a competition for the design of an exhibit to tell the story of Weeksville, a thriving African American community in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The exhibit appeared at New York’s Metropolitan Museum during the month of February 1976, our first Black History Month. It was there for the entire month in the museum’s basement along the coatroom hallway. As it was February, my teacher and the museum curator pointed out that it would be viewed by every museum visitor when they checked their coats.” — Lisa Smith