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Image of flames with a gray background.
Uncertain Path to Harmony, Parts 1, 2,3, 1997, Hana Hamplová, color photograph on backing board, 39 x 27 x 1 ½ in. (100.33 x 69.85 x 3.81 cm), Gift of Martha and Dady Mehta, 2015/1.383A

American Sampler: Activating the Archive

Guest Curator: Julie Ault, Guest Curator
Jan 24, 2026 - Ongoing
Vertical Gallery

The Art, Language, and Legacy of Protest

American Sampler: Activating the Archive looks back to a period when protest reshaped the nation. Curated by MacArthur Fellow Julie Ault in collaboration with the University of Michigan’s Labadie Collection of political dissent, this eighteen-month exhibition transforms UMMA’s towering Vertical Gallery into a living record of activism.

Bringing together artworks, archival documents, and rare ephemera from the 1950s through the 1970s, American Sampler explores the interconnected movements for Black Freedom, civil rights, and resistance to the Vietnam War—and the visual strategies that gave them power. Through striking juxtapositions of art and protest material, the exhibition asks visitors to consider how acts of dissent are built, communicated, and remembered.

Featuring works by Romare Bearden, Robert Indiana, Corita Kent, Jacob Lawrence, Nancy Spero, Félix González-Torres, and others alongside archival materials such as protest posters, Freedom Rider testimonials, GI resistance material, and courtroom records from the Chicago Seven trial, American Sampler uplifts the shared aims of art and activism. Opening in advance of the United States’ 250th anniversary, Ault offers a timely reflection on dissent as a cornerstone of American democracy and identity.

Select works in this exhibition

Corita Kent, stop the bombing, 1967, serigraph. Courtesy of Julie Ault. © 2026 The Nancy Spero and Leon Golub Foundation for the Arts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
A person wearing a buttoned, polka-dot dress. They are standing in front of an American flag and behind a mop and broom.
American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1942, Gordon Parks, gelatin silver on paper, 19 3/4 x 15 7/8 in. (50.17 x 40.32 cm);17 ¼ x 12 ½ in. (43.82 x 31.75 cm);28 x 22 in. (71.12 x 55.88 cm), Museum purchase made possible by the University of Michigan Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Director's Acquisition Committee, 2019, 2019/2.50
A person wearing a buttoned, polka-dot dress. They are standing in front of an American flag and behind a mop and broom.
Image mostly darker flames with gray background.
Uncertain Path to Harmony, Parts 2, 1997, Hana Hamplová, color photograph on backing board, 39 x 27 x 1 ½ in. (100.33 x 69.85 x 3.81 cm), Gift of Martha and Dady Mehta, 2015/1.383A
Image mostly darker flames with gray background.
A black and white photograph of four people lying on the ground. One person's face is covered by an American flag, while the man behind her has his face covered by a hat. The group appears to be asleep. The feet and shoes of other people standing around the group of four is visible in the background. The print is signed (l.r.) "Edward Roberson" in pen.
Tired Marchers Sleep on the Streets—”We were tired, we were tired.”, Selma, Alabama, 1963, printed 2000, Edward (Robbie) Roberson, inkjet print on paper, 11 x 14 in. (27.94 x 35.56 cm);14 x 19 in. (35.56 x 48.26 cm), Gift of Detroit Focus 2000, and partial purchase with funds from the Jean Paul Slusser Memorial Fund, 2003/2.69.28
A black and white photograph of four people lying on the ground. One person's face is covered by an American flag, while the man behind her has his face covered by a hat. The group appears to be asleep. The feet and shoes of other people standing around the group of four is visible in the background. The print is signed (l.r.) "Edward Roberson" in pen.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee/Danny Lyon,Come let us build a new world together, ca. 1964, poster featuring Danny Lyon photograph, courtesy of the Joseph A. Labadie Collection, in the digital collection Political Posters, Labadie Collection, University of Michigan. SCLP0165
Courtesy of the Joseph A. Labadie Collection
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee/Danny Lyon, NOW, ca. 1965, poster featuring Danny Lyon photograph, courtesy of the Joseph A. Labadie Collection, in the digital collection Political Posters, Labadie Collection, University of Michigan. SLCP0196
Organization of the Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (OSPAAAL), Vietnam Week of Solidarity March 13-19, ca. 1960, poster, courtesy of the Joseph A. Labadie Collection, in the digital collection Political Posters, Labadie Collection, University of Michigan. SLCP0408

SUPPORT

Lead support for this exhibition is provided by Joseph and Annette Allen, Nicole and Matthew Lester, Erica Gervais Pappendick and Ted Pappendick, Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Susan and Richard Gutow, the U-M Arts Initiative, the U-M Institute for the Humanities, the Mary L. Wolter Welz Fund, and the Marvin H. and Mary M. Davidson Endowed Fund. Additional generous support is provided by the U-M CEW+ Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, the U-M Inclusive History Project, the U-M Department of History, and the U-M Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies.