Revolution in their Worlds: How the Cause Became the Revolution
Open March through December 2026
The War for Independence began long before any shots were fired as revolution began to simmer in the minds of the colonists. Beginning in 1764, they voiced their reactions to the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. Women, as well as men, outlined the increasingly intolerable situation in the British colonies. The words and rhetoric of colonists enslaved and free Black people, and Native Americans all expressed dissatisfaction with their lack of representation and power, compelling them to construct “the Cause”..” Whether through letters, diaries, newspapers, proclamations or wampum belts, their outrage and anger provided the motivation and inspiration to turn words into actions. These sources demonstrate the growing belief that war was the only option for the Cause. The voices of the participants speak for themselves, explaining the Revolution in their own words.
Revolution in Their Words illustrates the inexorable movement from outrage to war through the many forms of communication. using documentary sources and artifacts to provide the context of the Cause and how it irrevocably led to the War for Independence.
Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit for Independence
Opens March 29, 2025
Travel Dates: 2026-2028
The Revolutionary War serves as a testament to the forging of the United States of America and the embodiment of ideas and principles pertaining to liberation and sovereignty. While often overshadowed, African Americans played a central role in attaining such values as realities in America. Their participation during the Revolutionary War serves as a perfect vignette to observe the long journey towards a unified and independent nation. The purpose of this exhibition is to highlight the creations, contributions, and legacies of African Americans as they fought for freedom during the midst of the American Revolution and beyond. At times the war was unified and inseparable. In contrast, other vignettes display people struggling to break free from oppression while their oppressors also wrestled with ideas of liberty.
While covering the Revolutionary period, Fighting for Freedom spans beyond those war years of the Revolution, as African Americans sought explicit realities of liberty through craft well into the 19th and early 20th centuries with the underpinning idea of African American craft as a catalyst for freedom-seeking which displays itself in a host of ways. This exhibition intends to encompass African American crafts of furniture, metals (silver), paintings, textiles, tools, and the assortment of other objects connected to African American craft.
A collaborative exhibition between the DAR Museum and the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive