Rik Freeman's "Black Beaches During Segregation "opened at Honfleur Gallery in Southeast Washington, DC. to a nice-sized, very receptive group. The exhibit runs at 1241 Good Hope Rd SE gallery until Saturday, September 28.
The paintings depict scenes from the Black beaches created during the American apartheid era and help document their history. "My paintings tell stories," says self-described narrative painter Freeman. "People need to be educated," he continued.
Aside from enjoying the brilliant colors, I was overjoyed to learn that America Beach's founder's wife, Mary Francis, was the great-granddaughter of Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley, whom the Port of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership included in the "West Africans in Early America" exhibit at the Juffureh Slavery Museum in The Gambia.
Freeman tags her as being from Mali; we tagged her as Senegambian. Most Manding speakers can trace their roots back to the Mali Empire, which present-day Mali, Senegal, and Gambia were part of.