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Join us on Saturday, October 19th for an engaging discussion with Dr. Caroline Collins, curator of the exhibition Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific, currently on view at the JCHS Museum of Art + History through October 27th. During this virtual event, Dr. Collins will be in conversation with local author and program director Oceana Sawyer about the exhibition topics and their relationship to the Olympic Peninsula and beyond.
All registrants will be sent a recording of the discussion within five days after the event. The Zoom link will be sent in the confirmation email you will receive from SimpleTix within one minute after registering. Don't see it in your inbox? Check your spam.
We highly encourage attendees to visit the exhibition before this event. The JCHS Museum of Art + History, located in downtown Port Townsend, is open 11am to 4pm, Thursday through Sunday. October 5th is Free First Saturday, with hours extended until 7pm. (Scroll to the bottom to see more ways to visit for free!)
BIOS
Dr. Caroline Collins charts her interest in Black people’s relationships with water and watercraft to a childhood that included regular visits to Southern California beaches. Dr. Collins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego where she is also affiliated with the Democracy Lab, the Design Lab, the Indigenous Futures Institute, the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology, and is a co-founder of “Black Like Water,” an interdisciplinary research collective at UCSD that highlights Black relationships to the natural world.
Oceana Sawyer is the Program Director for the Nourishing Beloved Community program under the auspices of Well Organized/BLM Jefferson County. In addition to coordinating a food resilience program locally, she also facilitates conversations on racialization and liberation among people of the global majority both locally and virtually with the Rooted Global Village. The author of “Life, Death, Grief, and the Possibility of Pleasure”, she also publishes essays and poems to Oceana’s Portal for Musings on Substack.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Most accounts of the United States’ maritime enterprises are disproportionately populated by white seafarers. JCHS is pleased to present a new exhibition that expands that narrative to include the many Black whalers, commercial mariners, fishers, explorers, soldiers, and sailors who traveled along the Pacific Coast and traversed the high seas from the 16th century to the mid-20th century. Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific tells the stories of these mariners, their impact in shaping the American Pacific, and their legacy in the context of development of society and identity. Importantly, this exhibition recenters the relationship between Black folks, water, and ships.
Take Me to the Water moves beyond the entrenched narrative of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and towards the understanding that Black people have not only existed in the Pacific region for centuries but played an integral role in the development of Pacific economy and society. Visitors will be introduced to the early freedoms some Africans experienced through exploration and service on the high seas, roots of seafaring and surfing that can be traced back to Africa’s western coast, Black labor in shipbuilding, longshoring and other coastal industries, Black folks’ advancements in scientific research, and the exchange of experiences, ideas, and creation of new communities for people of African descent along the Pacific.
Exhibition Support: This project is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. The exhibition tours through Exhibit Envoy.
VISITING THE MUSEUM OF ART + HISTORY
Want to check out the exhibition before October 19th? The Museum of Art + History is open Thursday through Sunday, 11am to 4pm. We are located in the historic City Hall building at 540 Water St., Port Townsend, WA.
Interested in ways to visit free of charge? We offer various avenues for waived admission:
- Free First Saturday - the first Saturday of each month admission is free to all and our hours are extended to 7pm
- Youth 17 and under: free admission year-round
- Folks with EBT/SNAP benefits: free admission year-round (as part of the Museums for All program)
- New! Free admission year-round for K-12 teachers and paraeducators at Jefferson County K-12 schools - just show us your school ID!
- New! Guest passes which can be checked out from the Jefferson County Library and Port Townsend Library (each pass = two adult admissions)
- Additionally, JCHS accepts NARM and ROAM (reciprocal admission benefits that are part of a national museum membership network)
Questions? Email programs@jchsmuseum.com
As a reminder: all registrants will be sent a recording of the discussion within five days after the event. The Zoom link will be sent in the confirmation email you will receive from SimpleTix within one minute after registering. Don't see it in your inbox? Check your spam.
Date & Time
Sat, Oct 19, 2024 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM