This article looks at different eras where African American voices and bodies were uplifted through the arts, publishing, and archives using technology as its platform for communication during calamity in the United States and why it is important that this tradition continues during COVID-19 and in the new decade. The intent of this article is to make those who are unaware aware of the use of digital technologies in the 20th century from an African American perspective through publishing and archiving, as well as community art spaces.

Artist Statement from the MFA exhibition: In my recent work, I explore my identity as a first-generation American, using my painting practice to think about early memories of living in-between two cultures. These remembered moments allow a space for me to consider how both cultures merge. Portraying vivid memories through colorful recognizable objects and body parts, memories take on a new context, showing the passage of time, and reflecting on how memories take on new meaning. My desire to save these moments relates to my wish to name what makes me belong, and what marks me as unique, within the two cultures in which I exist.