<I>Unite</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1971
name: label: Created by
content: Barbara Jones-Hogu, American, 1938 - 2017
label: Signed by
content: Gerald Williams, American, born 1941
label: Signed by
content: Napoleon Jones-Henderson, American, born 1943
label: Signed by
content: Carolyn Mims Lawrence, American, born 1940
label: Signed by
content: Jae Jarrell, American, born 1935
label: Signed by
content: Howard R. Mallory Jr., American, 1930 - 2012
label: Signed by
content: Nelson Stevens, American, 1938 - 2022
label: Subject of
content: AfriCOBRA, founded 1968
notes: label: Caption
content: "To build a nation, you need everybody to work together. You know? Everybody must come together and work together." - Barbara Jones-Hogu
label: Caption
content: Chicago-based artist Barbara Jones-Hogu was a founding member of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA), a group seeking to create positive and culturally relevant art for the urban black community. Jones-Hogu’s use of lettering in print designs, illustrated by her dynamic repetition of the word "unite," was an important component of AfriCOBRA’s early visual aesthetic. The closed raised fist, used here to represent cohesion of purpose within the Black Arts and Black Power movements during the late 1960s and the 1970s, has been adopted by various movements and organizations to represent solidarity and resistance.
label: Description
content: Screen print of nine (9) individuals with their right fists raised, standing in two rows facing each other. The foremost figure on the right stands facing the viewer. Clad in black, the figures' bodies and hair are dark shadows while the faces are sharp planes and angles reminiscent of African masks. The background is made up of the word "Unite" repeated in the letters of varying sizes in red, blue, purple and yellow. Along the bottom of the image is the signature of the artist, along with signatures of seven other artists from the AfriCOBRA group. There is violet ink stamped "AfriCOBRA, Print #10, Copyright 1971," on the lower left. The margins around the image are covered with a brown sticky residue. There are streaks of a milky white liquid visible spattered on the image.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Communities
label: Topic
content: Resistance
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Movement
content: Black Power (Black Pride)
label: Movement
content: BAM (Black Arts Movement 1965-1976)
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2008.13
objectType: label: Type
content: screen prints
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Estate of Barbara Jones-Hogu, Courtesy of Lusenhop Fine Art
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (Picture): 22 1/2 × 30 in. (57.2 × 76.2 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (Backing): 28 × 38 in. (71.1 × 96.5 cm)