The Art of the Abolitionist Movement with Aston Gonzalez, Ph.D.

Join us for "The Art of the Abolitionist Movement" on Wednesday, June 25, at 6 p.m. CT. The Clinton Presidential Library and the Clinton Foundation will welcome Aston Gonzalez, Ph.D., to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. He will discuss his book, “Visualizing Equality: African American Rights and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century,” in a conversation moderated by Chris Revelle, Director of Community Engagement for the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts.

Gonzalez and Revelle will discuss “Visualizing Equality,” which details how daguerreotypes, lithographs, cartes de visite, and steam printing presses enabled artists to advocate for social reform, including the Abolitionist movement. Gonzalez will highlight the work of understudied artists such as Robert Douglass Jr., Patrick Henry Reason, James Presley Ball, and Augustus Washington.

“The Art of the Abolitionist Movement” is one of two public programs being held in conjunction with the Arkansas Civic Education Institute, an annual week-long professional development opportunity for 4th-12th-grade teachers.

The program will be available on our YouTube channel the following day.

These programs are the first in the Clinton Presidential Center Commemorates America 250 — a series dedicated to exploring the history of the United States in the year leading up to the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.

“The Art of the Abolitionist Movement” is presented in partnership with the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.

ASL interpretation is available during our events.

Aston Gonzalez is a historian of African American culture and politics during the long nineteenth century. He is an associate professor of History at Salisbury University where he is the Director of History Graduate Program. The University of North Carolina Press published his first book, Visualizing Equality: African American Rights and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century, in 2020. His journal articles and book chapters have focused on the intersection of visual culture and African American history. They have analyzed African American portraiture during the Early Republic, the visual production of free Black abolitionists, picturing Black citizenship during the Civil War, the creation of African American archives, representations of Black freedom seekers, and the visual culture of the Emancipation Proclamation. His scholarship has been supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the Ford Foundation and the Library Company of Philadelphia, as well as numerous short-term fellowships. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan after he graduated from Williams College.

Chris Revelle joined the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts as the Director of Community Engagement in 2021. Revelle is focused on dynamic programming that connects all audiences to art and its educational potential. Along with the Department of Community Engagement, he develops programs that reimagine traditional approaches, activate the Museum in innovative ways, and provide multisensory experiences and teaching methods with the overarching goal of expanding partnerships within Arkansas and beyond while representing and welcoming our diverse community.

Revelle is also an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Within his studio practice, Revelle is focused on socially engaged work. Through the examination of history, language, and visual culture, Revelle’s work confronts the failures and abuses of social, political, and economic systems. The goal of his practice is to challenge public memory/engagement while inspiring discourse and empathy. His solo exhibition Swing Low was named Best Virtual Exhibit for 2020 by Phoenix New Times, selected for the Idea Capital Grant in 2018, and a finalist for the 2017 Hong Kong Human Rights Art Prize. Revelle has exhibited in the United States, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Europe, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and India, and has created artwork for United Nations organizations.

As a professor of contemporary art practices and theories, Revelle is passionate about his students’ success – emphasizing research, dialogue, and persistence – while balancing technical and conceptual development. He formerly served as the Chair of Fine Arts at Savannah College of Art and Design Hong Kong and was a Faculty Lecturer of Painting and Drawing at Arizona State University. Revelle earned his MFA from the School of Art at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) in Valencia, CA.

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