Folger exhibition charts Black women’s 400-year engagement with Shakespeare
A new exhibition at Washington DC’s Folger Shakespeare Library traces how Black women have drawn on Shakespeare to tell their own stories. “To Hear Her Speak: Black Women and Shakespeare” brings together performance and intellectual history, showing how the playwright’s work has offered Black women artists and scholars material for creative expression and reflection.
Curated by Folger Institute director Dr Patricia Akhimie after more than two years of research, the exhibition spans more than 400 years of engagement with Shakespeare. It features nearly 100 items, including photographs, playbills, books, diaries and costumes, alongside performance clips and interactive displays. Its starting point is Maya Angelou’s 1985 remark that Shakespeare was “a Black woman”, expressing her sense of kinship with his writing.
- A Folger exhibition explores Black women’s centuries-long connection with Shakespeare.
- Nearly 100 objects and interactive displays bring that history to life.
- Maya Angelou’s words capture the personal resonance of Shakespeare’s work.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “‘Shakespeare was a Black woman’: the playwright’s under-recognized connection to Black culture”.