From Stono To Now: The Fire This Time

East Point, GA — From the Stono Rebellion of 1739 to the murals of Atlanta and the marches in Ferguson, the language of resistance has always been spoken — in movement, in memory, and in the marks we make upon the world.

From Stono to Now: The Fire This Time charts a powerful lineage of Black rebellion and creative defiance, presenting a curatorial arc that spans uprisings, visionaries, and visual declarations of freedom. This exhibition brings together works from multiple exhibited collections that speak to our shared legacy of protest, self-determination, and survival.

Featured works include:

• Traci Mims’ searing depictions of Sojourner Truth, Fred Hampton, and Huey P. Newton, which honor the lineage of Black radical thought and leadership.
• Jamaal Barber’s To Be Free and Underground Railroad, which visualize both the physical and spiritual journey toward liberation.
• Najee Dorsey’s Gullah Jack and Google Robert Charles, brought to life through evocative photomontage and mixed media, reminding us that rebellion is rooted in American soil.
• Kevin Williams and other contemporary voices challenge and expand the narrative, anchoring today’s resistance in the textures of daily Black life, love, and refusal.

“This is not nostalgia — it is testimony. A living archive.”

From sugarcane fields to city blocks, from coded quilts to bullhorn chants, From Stono to Now frames the art of resistance not as relic, but as a roadmap. As the fires of change continue to burn, it asks:

What does resistance look like today — and are we ready to carry it forward?