The Black Emergency Cultural Coalition

Since 2021, my attention has been focused on the activities and impact of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC). My interest in this topic came about by way of my passion for artists’ activism and protest in the late-1960s and its relationship to radical practices at the time. This was in turn derived from my questions in exhibition and curatorial practices about forms of protest through refusal, negation, ‘anti-‘ activities working against (or in lieu of) expectations and conventions. While researching artist groups involved in protests and strikes, like Art Worker’s Coalition, Art & Language, Guerilla Girls, etc., it became clear that some groups have been historicized and celebrated to a greater extent than others. It is also clear that is intrinsically connected to one’s place in the production and maintenance of art historical discourses. My goal is to document the programs and significant participation of the BECC and its members.

This page is a (work-in-progress) clearinghouse for links and resources.
If you have an interest or information, email me.

Emory University, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Benny Andrews Papers 1940 – 2006
https://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/andrewsbenny845/

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Black Emergency Cultural Coalition records 1971-1984 
https://archives.nypl.org/scm/20908

“Social Networks and Archival Context” website lists
https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6vh9k8s#resources