Preview: Marshall Fredricks ‘Lunch and Learn’ event

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum will be hosting a “Lunch and Learn” event to examine the prominence of John Brown in American abolition history.

Attendees will have the opportunity to deepen their educational understanding of a particular topic while enjoying light refreshments.

The event will be held in conjunction to exhibitions at the museum in addition to the works of Marshall Fredericks.

These featured exhibitions change approximately every three months. Currently on display until April 29 is “The Legend of John Brown,” a 22-screen print series by African American artist Jacob Lawrence (1917- 2000). The exhibition is on loan from the Mott-Warsh Collection in Flint, MI.

John Brown is a significant figure in both historical and artistic representations of radical abolitionism.

Andrea Ondish, the curator of Education at the Marshall M. Fredericks Museum, is responsible for scheduling, coordinating, and facilitating events like the “Lunch and Learn” at the museum.

“Lawrence’s screen-print series theme of John Brown, an abolitionist, is the reason we are having a talk on that theme,” Ondish explained. “The series is Jacob Lawrence at his full artistic strength with vibrant colors, storytelling precision, and powerful graphic images. Lawrence’s art explores the human condition, the African American experience, and American history.”

Jennifer Stinson, PhD, associate professor of history at SVSU, will be leading the conversation on John Brown at the “Lunch and Learn.”

“Contemporary artistic expressions of Black and white creators—from Jacob Lawrence’s prints to performances on the operatic stage—attest the enduring resonance of John Brown in Americans’ minds,” Stinson said.

Placing John Brown in a historical context also provides a deeper understanding of his larger role in radicalism.

At the event, Stinson will explore preCivil War accounts about John Brown given by Black women to support and assert their right to resort to violence if it meant protecting themselves.

Furthermore, evidence of collaboration between John Brown and Black men in staging attacks at Pottawatomie, Kansas, and Harpers Ferry, Virginia will be examined.

The “Lunch and Learn” will be held on Wednesday, Mar. 1st from noon to 1 p.m. in the Marshall M. Fredericks Museum classroom. The program is free to attend, and snacks will be provided.

For more information on this event, as well as other events being held by the museum, a calendar listing can be found here: https://marshallfredericks.org/calendar/

The virtual exhibition of Lawrence’s “The Legend of John Brown” series can be accessed at https://www.marshallfredericks.net/john-brown-360.html

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