By Hailey Stangebye

Yesterday, the highly anticipated I, Too, Sing America exhibition opened at the Columbus Museum of Art. It represents years of careful curation and collaboration.

Moreover, this exhibition was the catalyst for the broader discussion that led to this citywide celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance in Columbus. It all started a few years ago at the Lincoln Theatre. Wil Haygood was in town hosting a discussion on the release of his most recent publication, Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America.

Larry James introduced Haygood and, in the audience, the director of the Columbus Museum of Art, Nannette Maciejunes, listened attentively.

“I realized that so much of what Wil had done in his writing kept circling back and touching on the Harlem Renaissance,” Nannette says. “I got the idea that maybe we could invite Wil to be the guest curator of an exhibition here at the museum on the Harlem Renaissance as it approached its hundredth birthday.”

“I got the idea that maybe we could invite Wil to be the guest curator of an exhibition here at the museum on the Harlem Renaissance as it approached its hundredth birthday.”

Luckily, the next morning, Nannette had breakfast with the late Bill Conner, who was, at the time, the director at CAPA. She pitched the idea and Bill immediately pulled out his phone to call Larry James.

Within a week, Larry James, Bill Conner and Wil Haygood were all on board.

“The second thing that happened that I think was really important was an idea that Bill Conner and Larry James had from the beginning, and then Larry carried it to fruition after Bill’s death,” Nannette says. “It was this idea of turning this small idea that Nannette had about an exhibition at the museum into a citywide celebration with 30 plus partners. And I think that has made it so much bigger than it would have been had it just been a show at the museum.”

“It was this idea of turning this small idea that Nannette had about an exhibition at the museum into a citywide celebration with 30 plus partners. And I think that has made it so much bigger than it would have been had it just been a show at the museum.”

The citywide celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance quickly became more than a commemoration of the history of the movement. While this rich history is a crucial component, it also became a living, breathing platform for modern expression that will continue to shape the culture in Columbus.

The museum exhibition reflects that nuanced vitality. It’s about the history of the Harlem Renaissance, but it’s also about the ripple effect that the movement had on American culture.

“We do lots of different kinds of exhibitions,” Nannette says. “What’s distinctive about this one is that it’s a very personal reflection on the Harlem Renaissance. It is about a writer and a thinker who has spent much of his career thinking about how this subject of the Harlem Renaissance intersects with other things that he’s working on. It’s a lifetime of that thinking and that personal reflection on the meaning of the Harlem Renaissance to him in the 21st century that really distinguishes this exhibition.”

“It’s a lifetime of that thinking and that personal reflection on the meaning of the Harlem Renaissance to him in the 21st century that really distinguishes this exhibition.”

The I, Too, Sing America exhibition will be on view through January 20, 2019. With the rich layers of artistic expression around every corner, you could spend multiple visits exploring all that this show has to offer. Nannette says that this exhibit — and art in general — is much more than a luxury.

“I think that the arts are the best of us,” Nannette says. “We throw that phrase of ‘quality of life’ around. Art is so much more than the quality of life. It’s fundamental to life… You take one breath, and you begin to get art. We are aesthetic beings that make things that have to be beautiful, that have to communicate, that have to have meaning. That’s the essence of human life. It’s the essence of being human.”

“We throw that phrase of ‘quality of life’ around. Art is so much more than the quality of life. It’s fundamental to life… You take one breath, and you begin to get art. We are aesthetic beings that make things that have to be beautiful, that have to communicate, that have to have meaning. That’s the essence of human life. It’s the essence of being human.”

For more information on when you can experience the exhibition for yourself, click here.

Today, he’s a Broadway Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at his alma mater, Miami University, and a guest curator of the I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100 exhibit at the Columbus Museum of art (opens Oct. 19).

Haygood took the time to answer a few of our questions about the Harlem Renaissance and its connection to modern-day Columbus.

To start, I’d love to learn more about your connection to Columbus. To which part of the city do you feel closest? Describe why.

I was raised on the Northside of Columbus, near the OSU area. My family moved to the Eastside in 1968. My sentiments are even for both of those geographic locales of the city because I have deep memories steeped in both. And in my writing life I’ve written about both of the neighborhoods I knew in my youth.

Given your research on the Harlem Renaissance, why is it significant that this campaign is happening in Columbus, Ohio?

Anniversaries are always a good time to pay homage to something historically significant. It’s been a hundred years since the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance. A new generation needs a sharp reminder of that epochal moment in American history.

How is modern-day Columbus similar or different to Harlem during the Renaissance?

All big cities in the 20th century had pockets of black neighborhoods. Culture and music and genius grew from these neighborhoods. Columbus  – on the east side – was a microcosm of 1920s Harlem. Langston Hughes, Chester Himes, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, all Renaissance figures, passed through Columbus.

How is the Harlem Renaissance nationally relevant in this day and age?

The Renaissance was a time of high art and expressiveness in that art. But it was a cultural moment aligned with protest. In America today, we see various social movements – MeToo, Black Lives Matter – that utilize some of the same passion exhibited during the Harlem Renaissance. Movements need creative souls, and we see creative souls in many places now.

Why do you think artistic expression and exposure is important?

It is no secret why presidents and political candidates adopt songs and poems. Artistic expression becomes a universal language for so many when they are hurting or aggrieved. Art represents the best of any generation.

Tell me a bit about your latest publication, Tigerland: 1968-1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season of Healing.

TIGERLAND is a book about athletic expression. At all-black East High in the 1968-69 academic year, the basketball & baseball team both won state championships that year. It was a historic feat. And it all happened in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr’s death. They were kids, athletes, and young Renaissance men.

Wil Haygood’s Latest Book

Today, he is a Broadway Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at his alma mater, Miami University, and a guest curator of the I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100 exhibit at the Columbus Museum of art (opens Oct. 19).

Here is where you can hear Haygood speak:

Harlem Renaissance with Wil Haygood

9/19/18 at 12 p.m. | The Boat House at Confluence Park

The Columbus Metropolitan club will host Wil Haygood tomorrow, Sept. 19, from noon to 1:15 p.m. at the The Boat House at Confluence Park. This event falls on the day after the release of Haygood’s latest book, Tigerland: 1968-1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season of Healing.

Click here for more information.

An Evening with Wil Haygood

9/19/18 at 5:30 p.m. | The Lincoln Theatre

To celebrate the release of his latest book, The Lincoln Theatre will host a conversation with Wil Haygood. For more information or to reserve your tickets, click here.