Black Women Lead

The 212 Black Women Leaders Selected for 2023

BOSTON, Mass. — October 25, 2023 —

Greater Grove Hall Main Streets (GGHMS), in partnership with the New England Patriots Foundation, has announced the inaugural members of the Black Women Lead project. 212 of Boston’s most admired, beloved, and successful Black Women leaders are being featured on banners stretching for two miles along Blue Hill Avenue, making this exhibit the largest public art project in the city. 

These women shaped Boston through their work in arts and culture, legislation, health, education, community building and raising future generations of leaders, further improving the quality of life for everyone in the city. 

Each banner features a commissioned portrait for each woman, her name and certain credentials. Accompanying historical information, compiled from research by Boston Public Library and Northeastern University, is being collected for a Wikipedia page for each honoree.

“We live in a city where history has shined brightly on the contributions made by those of Irish and Italian heritage, not to mention the ‘Boston Brahmins.’ But the spotlight has missed the collective and cumulative impact of generations of Black women,” said Ed Gaskin, executive director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets. “When the spotlight has been on these leaders, it hasn’t always been the best light possible, and we hope to change that narrative. The Black Women Lead project aims to fill our knowledge gap by recognizing Black women leaders who made their marks on Boston from the 1700s through the present day.” 

The nomination process was extensive and resulted in 600 nominations. The selection criteria for the inaugural slate of Black women leaders was quite extensive — over a page long. Students from the Mother Caroline Academy were among the selection committee. The process led to a list of leaders that includes women who made history by being the first to do something, and those who had something named after them from scholarships to streets to  buildings. Others were leaders having received Grammys, Emmys and Hall of Fame nominations. Leadership was defined broadly to include extraordinary role models — like a woman who had 50 foster children, or a woman who worked as a foster grandmother for 25 years and retired at age 95 — as well as others who have made unique contributions to the community.

Banners for each of the 212 Black women leaders included designs from local artist Kamali Thornell and Baltimore-based Brianna Young. Each portrait is signed by the artist as an original piece of art, similar to prints. 

“I see this exhibit as being reminiscent of ‘The Gates’ in Central Park, created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. As an artist, this is my Christo,” said Gaskin. “It provides placemaking for Grove Hall, promotes Black art, honors Black women and seniors, and inspires us all. It is in memory of my grandmother Maxine Moss and great aunt Anna Moss who graduated from college during the time of the depression — Black women leaders in their day.” 
The project hopes to repeat this process annually, adding new voices and new stories to the still unfolding story that is Boston.

ABOUT GREATER GROVE HALL MAIN STREETS

Greater Grove Hall Main Streets (GGHMS) focuses on improving the economic vitality of the Grove Hall district, community development and urban planning for the betterment of businesses and residents. GGHMS is committed to promoting a diverse business district while maintaining our neighborhood’s historical character. The organization encourages innovative and creative techniques for fostering economic development that enriches the lives of business owners, employees and residents of our community. For more information, visit http://www.greatergrovehall.org. 

Q&A With Ed Gaskin

What inspired this project?

We live in a city where history has shined brightly on the contributions made by those of Irish and Italian heritage, not to mention the “Boston Brahmins.” But the spotlight has missed the collective and cumulative impact of generations of Black women. When the spotlight has been on these leaders, it hasn’t always been the best light possible, and we hope to change that narrative. The Black Women Lead project aims to fill our knowledge gap by recognizing Black women leaders who made their marks on Boston from the 1700s through the present day.

Who are some Black women leaders that have inspired you? 

I led this project in memory of my grandmother Maxine Moss and great aunt Anna Moss who graduated from college during the time of the depression — two Black women leaders in their day who made a big impression on me.

Why Grove Hall?

The Black Women Lead is a placemaking effort designed to attract tourists looking to visit Boston’s Black communities. Prior efforts included creating an app for a self guided tour that covers 120 historical sites from the Colonial period to the present, and an architectural walking tour. 

The Black Women Lead project is the latest effort to bring public art to Grove Hall after recognizing that Grove Hall was a public art dessert. Prior work included painting 16 utility boxes, sponsoring what would become national award winning murals, inventing a new mural technology that was less expensive, temporary and enabled artists who were not muralists to display their work in mural format, the bus shelter project where in place of advertisements, poster size photographs from Boston’s Black photographer community were on display in 12 bus shelters.

Why banners?

The idea to use banners was inspired from hip hop, where artists used “found” space, sidewalks, walls, and subway trains for graffiti or street art. We had been sponsoring graffiti art for years as part of our beautification and placemaking efforts of Grove Hall. One principle in street art is using “found space” as opposed to gallery space in a museum. The design template was very much from pop culture and the use of light poles was in the spirit of using found space. 

How do you feel now that you see the banners up?

I see this exhibit as being reminiscent of ‘The Gates’ in Central Park, created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. As an artist, this is my Christo. It provides placemaking for Grove Hall, promotes Black art, honors Black women and seniors, and inspires us all. 

As a creative, I’ve been very pleased with the emotional connection my exhibit has made with the various stakeholders, e.g. those who have been honored and their families, those who live, work and play in the neighborhood, commuters and tourists. It has been described as amazing, wonderful, spectacular, beautiful, overwhelming, joyful, among other adjectives. 

How did you pick your artists for the project?

The project was executed by two Black artists, Kamali Thornell from Boston and Brianna Young from Baltimore, who were selected after a global call for artists went out. We needed someone who had the skills of a fine artist and the ego of a commercial artist, which is what made them so hard to find. Each portrait is signed by the artist as an original piece of art, similar to prints. 

What else is being done to honor these 212 Black women leaders?

We hosted a Mother’s Day brunch at the Massachusetts State House, where the 212 honorees and their families were honored. At the brunch, the women were honored with citations from the City and State in recognition of their honor. We believe this was the largest number of Black women to be honored at one time in the city, perhaps with the exception of some graduation ceremonies.

Furthermore, Wikipedia entries for these Black women leaders are certainly justified, and we have begun work on authoring these additions. Every one of these leaders meets the “notability” requirement for Wikipedia entries, and we hope to use this to broaden awareness of these important individuals outside of the greater Boston area. 

What’s next for you and the project?

If funding is available, another cohort of Black Women Leaders will be honored — we hope it will become an annual event. When we approached foundations, they said no because the project did not fall neatly into the types of categories they fund. The Kraft Family said yes, but they are used to honoring Hall of Famers and this is the Hall of Fame for Black women leaders. Our ultimate aspiration is to start the Black Women Lead Movement, where other cities find a highly visible way to recognize the contributions Black women have made to their cities over the years.

Black Women Lead Media Coverage 11-18-23