Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) invites the public to experience Watching God, Seeking the Sacred, and Writing History, an exhibition exploring religion, spirituality, creativity, and community life in Black America through the arts and humanities.
Details
Designed by Charles E. Chambers, the exhibition is presented as part of the Arts and Humanities Alive (AHA!) Initiative, directed by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, and commemorates the 90th anniversary of Zora Neale Hurston's landmark novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Drawing on oral histories, photographs, archival collections, books, and personal narratives, Watching God, Seeking the Sacred, and Writing History examines the enduring role of faith communities as centers of worship, education, leadership, cultural expression, and social change. Stories from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities illuminate the contributions of congregations, faith-based organizations, and community leaders throughout Greater Cleveland.
Featured materials come from the A. Grace Lee Mims Arts and Culture Oral History Project at WRHS, the RASHAD Center's Praying Grounds Project, the Greenstone Church Oral History Project at East Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Masjid Bilal, and other community-based institutions and initiatives. Scholarly research, autobiographies, fiction, archival records, and community knowledge complement these resources.
The project reflects the influence and collaborative efforts of WRHS, the Cleveland Public Library, the Smithsonian Institution's Robert F. Smith Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History, participating churches, synagogues, mosques, private collectors, scholars, artists, and community members, including WRHS Board member Lori Stokes, who allowed us to borrow church-related materials from the Stokes Family Collections.
Special thanks to Stacie L. Brisker, Special Collections Librarian at the Cleveland Public Library, whose efforts helped connect this exhibition with the library's companion exhibition, /ˈseɪkrɪd/: Watching God, Reading Religion, and Writing History; and Julie Moss, Librarian at Park Synagogue, for working with us to identify titles for the January-December 2027 By the Book Discussion Series.
The complete list of selected titles appears below. Many of these books were written by, or focus on, recipients of Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards.
Details about the discussion schedule and related events will be announced on Friday, January 1, 2027, the final day of Kwanzaa. The observance for that day centers on Imani ("Faith"), one of the seven guiding principles of this cultural holiday.
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Zora Neale Hurston
The Color of Water (1996), James McBride
W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race (1993), David Levering Lewis
The In-Betweens (2023), Davon Loeb
Soundtrack to a Movement: African American Islam, Jazz, and Black Internationalism (2021), Richard Brent Turner
Koshersoul (2022), Michael W. Twitty
Heart of a Stranger (2025), Angela Buchdahl
The Color of Love (2019), Marra B. Gad
Black, White, Jewish (2002), Rebecca Walker
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (1996), Nell Irvin Painter
Beloved (1987), Toni Morrison
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), As Told to Alex Haley
Together, these initiatives demonstrate the power of collaboration in preserving, interpreting, and sharing Greater Cleveland's rich religious, cultural, and historical heritage.
Highlights
