The Black Lunch Table (BLT) is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

-based oral-history

archiving An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

project founded in 2005, focused on the lives and work of

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

artists. Its work includes

oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or oral ...

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

s, peer teaching workshops,

meetup Meetup is a social media platform for hosting and organizing in-person and virtual activities, gatherings, and events for people and communities of similar interests, hobbies, and professions. It was founded in 2002 by Scott Heiferman and four ot ...

s, and Wikipedia

edit-a-thon An edit-a-thon (sometimes written editathon) is an event where some editors of online communities such as Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap (also as a "mapathon"), and LocalWiki edit and improve a specific topic or type of content. The events typically i ...

s. The BLT brings people together to engage in dialogues about the writing, recording, and promoting inclusive art history. One of its aims is to address the

racial A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

and

gender bias on Wikipedia Gender bias on Wikipedia, also known as the Wikipedia gender gap, refers to the fact that Wikipedia contributors are mostly male, that relatively few biographies on Wikipedia are about women, and that topics of interest to women are less well-cov ...

by encouraging Wikipedia articles about

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

artists.

History

Artists Jina Valentine and

Heather Hart Heather T. Hart (born May 3, 1975) is a visual artist who works in a variety of media including Interactive art, interactive and participatory Installation art, drawing, collage, and painting. She is a co-founder of the Black Lunch Table, Black L ...

founded the Black Lunch Table (BLT) in 2005 with an event at the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 t ...

artist residency. The BLT has hosted

s at a range of institutions and settings including

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

BRIC Arts Media BRIC, formerly known as BRIC Arts Media or Brooklyn Information & Culture, is a non-profit arts organization based in Brooklyn, New York founded in 1979 as the "Fund for the Borough of Brooklyn". A presenter of free cultural programming in Brookly ...

, and others. BLT gained non-profit status in 2019. As of 2020, the organization has hosted 72 Wikipedia events in six countries, creating 385 new articles and uploading 727 new images. The organization has received funding from

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

, the

Warhol Foundation Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

, the Logan Foundation, Ruth Foundation,

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., or Wikimedia for short and abbreviated as WMF, is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California and registered as a charitable foundation under local laws. Best kno ...

, the

Foundation for Contemporary Art The Foundation for Contemporary Art (FCA) is a Ghanaian visual arts foundation that aims to create an active network of artists and provide a critical forum for the development of contemporary art in Ghana. Based in Accra, the FCA was founded in 2 ...

, among other sources.

References

External links

* Wikipedia: Meetup page - Black Lunch Table African-American arts organizations African-American history of Maine American artist groups and collectives American writers' organizations Artist groups and collectives based in Chicago Organizations established in 2005 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Social justice organizations Social welfare charities based in the United States Wikipedia {{AfricanAmerican-stub