With RENOVATIONS, strikeWare Collective uses the Peale Center building, known historically as “Male and Female Colored School Number 1” to begin to look at the Black experience of
education in Baltimore throughout history. In addition to a critical examination of historical and contemporary segregation in Baltimore City public schools, the show tracks the nine students
who graduated from School Number 1 in 1889 - Baltimore’s first all-Black high school graduating class.
education in Baltimore throughout history. In addition to a critical examination of historical and contemporary segregation in Baltimore City public schools, the show tracks the nine students
who graduated from School Number 1 in 1889 - Baltimore’s first all-Black high school graduating class.
This immersive exhibition weaves traditional and new media to present a visual experience about the institutions, educators and progenitors who shaped how Baltimore’s Black community
acquired formal training and knowledge. The exhibition examines Black education in Baltimore from the essential role of churches such as Bethel AME in the antebellum era to the first public
schools available to Black students after the Civil War.
acquired formal training and knowledge. The exhibition examines Black education in Baltimore from the essential role of churches such as Bethel AME in the antebellum era to the first public
schools available to Black students after the Civil War.
underWater
AR application
Looking through the tablet up the stairs, underWater places viewers at the bottom of the ocean. After a time, a ship passes overhead. A 1949 recital from students at the Baltimore Institute of Musical Arts - an answer to the Peabody Institute’s refusal to integrate - plays in the background.
bluePrints
22" x 26"
AR Application & Display
Looking through the phone to the monitor reveals an augmented reality (AR) view of the Peale Center. Excerpts from local newspapers refer to overcrowded conditions in the building during its time as the Colored High School.
the ceiling of a church
4'x2'x2'
Interactive Video Sculpture
Participants are invited to gently dip their fingers in the water. The Clayborn Temple is due for renovations in the upcoming year. The church was a gathering site for sanitation workers in Memphis during the Civil Rights era.
Another View of the Clayborn Temple
12"x5"x1"
Interactive Sculpture
Participants are invited to hold the hands of the sculpted video display to look around a 360° video of the Clayborn Temple and listen to a speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
Many buildings of significant importance to Black history remain in need of renovation. The Clayborn Temple played a critical part in the Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968. Marches to City Hall, most significantly led by Dr. Martin Luther King in the week before his assassination, originated at Clayborn Temple.
1,000 Strikemarks
8'x6'x1'
Sculpture with AR Application
A chalkboard with a backlit whiteboard on the reverse side, this piece acknowledges the origins of the display space. Charles Carroll presided over his manor in Maryland; a 10,000 acre estate that included approximately 1,000 African slaves. At the time of his death, his 130 remaining slaves were valued at $5 each.
Gertrude Anderson - Nellie Anderson - Gertrude Deaver - Fannie McCabe - Mollie Taylor - Violet Thompson - William Murray - Walter Scott - Mamie Neale
8'x5'x1'
Interactive Sculpture
Participants are invited to interact with this sculpture by dipping their fingers in chalk dust and gently rubbing the engraved text to expose it. This sculpture documents the lives of the 9 students who graduated from “Male and Female Colored School No. 1,” where they studied in the building now known as the Peale Center. In 1889, these students became the first African Americans to graduate public high school in Baltimore City. They went on to lead well-documented and often extraordinary lives, tracked here through articles in various newspapers, predominantly the Baltimore Afro-American.
85° 60°
8'x4'x4'
Interactive Sculpture w/ AR Application
Viewers are invited to gently lay their hands on these desks. Many Baltimore City Public Schools still lack adequate HVAC. If the internal temperature of their school registers above 85° or below 60°, students will be dismissed for the day.
Omission
time-based installation w/ AR application
So-called Slave Bibles included only selected portions of the Old and New Testaments. References to freedom and escape from slavery were omitted, those encouraging obedience. In this work, the Bible is cut as a gesture towards the omissions of the slave bible.
an Ode to the Nine Graduates at the Old City Hall
12' x 4' x 3'
Sculpture w/ AR Application
“The stage was set with flowers, and all the female pupils who occupied it were dressed in white. A chorus “Herd Bells” preceded the honorary address, “Songs of Shakespeare,” written by Nellie Anderson and read by Mamie Neale. The valedictory, prepared by Gertie Deaver and delivered by Gertie Anderson was upon the topic, “A Wonderful Factor.” The graduates were nine in number, and included seven girls and two boys. Their names are Gertie Anderson, Nellie Anderson, Gertrude Deaver, Fannie McCabe, Mollie Taylor, Violet Thompson, William Murray, Walter Scott and Mamie Neale.” Colored High School: First Diplomas. 29 June 1889. Baltimore Sun.
Bethel AME
60" x 36"
Ink Drawing w/ AR Application
Educator and preacher Daniel Coker founded Bethel AME in 1816. This church is recognized as the first independent black denomination in the United States. Churches played an essential role for the education of African Americans during the 19th century when state schools served only white students.
Bethel AME
60" x 36"
Ink Drawing w/ AR Application
William H. Murray, one of the nine graduates memorialized in this exhibition, was beaten to death as an inmate here by a white guard in what newspapers at that time called “The Most Brutal Murder in Maryland’s History.” Founded in 1911 as the “Hospital for the Negro Insane,” Crownsville was notorious for nearly 100 years for overcrowding, patient abuse, refusal to integrate, and experimental operations - a grim example of how the state and federal government interpreted “public service” for Black citizens.
VR Peale Tour
Virtual Reality Experience
Put on the virtual reality headset to fly through a three-dimensional model of the Peale Center as it existed just before its current renovations, encountering stereoscopic 360 videos of many of the rooms.
Through the Tempest to the Stars
3 Channel Immersive, Interaction Installation
Pick up the black block to control this interactive installation inspired by the ceremony of the first graduates of the Colored High School. This work features contributions from the Peale Center, the Hosanna School, and Direct Dimensions. The title is the motto of the 1889 graduating class.
