“Putting Black Women on the Map: Then and Now”
Virtual gallery event in conjunction with LexSeeHer’s installation at LexArt in celebration of Black History Month

Join this special LexSeeHer Speaker Series event to celebrate Black women in Lexington’s history from the 18th century forward. Learn more about the installation “Putting Black Women on the Map: Then and Now” with exhibit co-curators. The gallery space at LexArt brings our focus to the ongoing research taking place to document the lives of women in the 1700s, including Phebe Banister Burdoo, Cate Chester, and Margaret Tulip, who won her freedom in the courts in 1768.

Moving forward to 1843, we learn about Mary Elizabeth Miles Bibb, the first Black woman to graduate from the Normal School in Lexington. After graduating, Mary Elizabeth went on to become a teacher, abolitionist, journalist, author who helped publish “Voice of the Fugitive”, and founder of integrated schools in Canada - where she had fled with her husband following passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

Bringing us to the 21st century, the installation celebrates the life, passion and work of Sylvia Ferrell-Jones, attorney, business woman, and leader in the non-profit world who was committed to addressing racial and gender justice.

Hosted by co-curators, Amelia Worthy, Celeste Freeman, and Jessie Steigerwald, the evening will bring together special guests who helped contribute to the installation, including: descendants and family members of Margaret Tulip, Cate Chester, and Sylvia Ferrell-Jones; Elizabeth Pope, Curator of Books and Digitized Collections at the American Antiquarian Society; LexSeeHer Research Team members Alexandra Moellmann, Leslie Masson, Margaret Micholet, and representing LexArt, Mathew Siegel, Executive Director, and Wayne Davis, Board Chair.

In partnership with LexSeeHer, LexArt, and ABCL, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington.

This program is made possible by the generous donors to the Cary Library Foundation.