ABSTRACT
When the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened in 2016, three new abstract works of public art defined the large entry space: Chakaia Booker’s The Liquidity of Legacy (2016), Sam Gilliam’s Yet Do I Marvel (Countee Cullen) (2016), and Swing Low (2016) by Richard Hunt. 1 The public art resonated with the museum’s mission of examining black culture and history in a global and local perspective. That these works were part of a long practice of black public art in the United States was an aspect that received little notice.
