Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Children’s Books

June 19, 2020 - July 28, 2024

This exhibition is the first of its kind to delve into the events, people, and themes of the civil rights movement as told through picture books. Eighty artworks evoke the power of the era that shaped American history and continues to reverberate today. Picture the Dream presents three thematic sections exploring the forces that sparked the civil rights movement, its key players and events, and stories about the reemergence of activism in contemporary America. From Brown vs. the Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the March on Washington and Black Lives Matter, the picture books’ topics bridge the past and present, emphasizing how historical moments and leaders continue to inspire the struggle for equal rights.

Curated by Andrea Davis Pinkney.

Co-organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, Massachusetts and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.

Schedule 

June 19 – November 8, 2020 
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA 

February 7 – July 3, 2021
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA

April 1 – July 24, 2022
New-York Historical Society, New York, NY

April 1 – July 28, 2024
Kansas Children’s Discovery Center, Topeka, KS
(Exhibition of reproductions)

Girl helping boy over fence.
Earl Bradley (E. B.) Lewis, Illustration for The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. Collection of Harriet and Michael A. Seidman. © 2001 E. B. Lewis. Used by permission of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Featured Artists

Stephen Alcorn, Benny Andrews, Keturah A. Bobo, R. Gregory Christie, Bryan Collier, Raúl Colón, Floyd Cooper, Shane W. Evans, AG Ford, George Ford, Laura Freeman, Vashti Harrison, Ekua Holmes, Brittany Jackson, Gordon C. James, Charlotta Janssen, Leonard Jenkins, Tim Ladwig, Philippe Lardy, Earl Bradley (E. B.) Lewis, PJ Loughran, Frank Morrison, Innosanto Nagara, Kadir Nelson, Vanessa Brantley Newton, Brian Pinkney, Jerry Pinkney, Andrea Pippins, Nate Powell, Sean Qualls, Selina Alko, James E. Ransome, Peter Reynolds, Faith Ringgold, Van Thanh Rudd, Jared Andrew Schorr, Brian Selznick, Shadra Strickland, John Thompson, Eric Velasquez, Purple Wong 

Explore Further
Past Exhibition
February 7 - July 3, 2021
The historic events, people, and themes of the civil rights movement are brought to life in original picture-book illustrations by 40 artists.  
News & Press
The first exhibition of its kind to delve into the historic events, people, and themes of the civil rights movement as told through picture books.

In the Bookshop

All Because You Matter

Let The Children March

I Am Enough

Lillian's Right to Vote

Hands Up!

Boycott Blues