Winterthur Museum in Delaware has opened a new exhibition titled "Almost Unknown: The Afric-American Picture Gallery," which brings to life a fictional gallery imagined in 1859 by Black writer and schoolteacher William J. Wilson, writing under the pseudonym Ethiop. In a series of columns for the magazine "The Anglo-American," Wilson described an imaginary museum of Black history and art, featuring works like a depiction of a slave ship, a bust of poet Phillis Wheatley, and images of Crispus Attucks and Haitian Revolution heroes. Curator Jonathan Square has transformed Wilson's fantasy into an immersive, haunted-attraction-style exhibition using objects from Winterthur's collection, with dark lighting, sound effects, and false walls that evoke a carnival ride inspired by Jordan Peele films and "The Shining."
This exhibition matters because it reclaims and materializes a visionary 19th-century Black intellectual's call for a dedicated space honoring African American history and culture, long before such institutions existed. By turning Wilson's critical commentary on slavery, memory, and national legacy into a physical experience, Winterthur challenges traditional museum narratives and invites visitors to engage with Black history through a deliberately unsettling, crooked, and unexpected lens. The show also underscores the power of imagination in shaping cultural memory and the ongoing relevance of Wilson's critique of how the nation remembers its founding figures and their ties to slavery.