Coming to the Michigan Street Baptist Church September 2025
Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is adapted from the exhibition American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This traveling exhibition includes many of the same dynamic features: historical and contemporary photographs; educational and archival video; engaging multimedia interactives, and historical objects like campaign souvenirs, voter memorabilia, and protest material.
Oral History Project
The Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor is currently collecting oral histories from the community to be apart of the Voices & Votes exhibition in 2025. Those willing to give an oral history will be asked to sit down with a Corridor staff member to record a 10 minute interview that touches on at least one of the following themes:
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Power of Press
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Civil Rights & Activism
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Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
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Voting
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Citizenship
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Democracy & History
The recorded histories will be stored in the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor collection. They will be made available on the Corridor's website and on the Agora New York website. Those interested in learning more or recording an oral history for the Corridor should reach out to Audrey Clark at aclark@michiganstreetbuffalo.org or by calling 716-322-1002 ext 102.
About the Exhibit
Voices and Votes: Democracy in America is adapted from the exhibition American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. This traveling exhibition includes many of the same dynamic features: historical and contemporary photographs; educational and archival video; engaging multimedia interactives, and historical objects like campaign souvenirs, voter memorabilia, and protest material.
As our nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we know that museums are searching for ways to engage their communities with connections to the history of our nation. They are seeking ways to tell multivocal stories of our past, to embrace all the people who live in their communities regardless of race, religion, or nation of origin.
Learning about and understanding democracy is a process that takes place at the intersection of place, the individual, and the community. Museums with their depth of public trust, central locations within communities, and their physical and programmatic gathering spaces can become a new Agora* for the twenty-first century. Within these trusted spaces, objects of material culture, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, literature, and works of art can ground conversations in shared experiences.
Voices and Votes exhibition themes include:
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the principles and events that inspired the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution;
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the struggle for voting rights and equal participation in our democracy;
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freedoms and responsibilities of citizens;
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the formal and informal processes of our political systems;
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music, performance, and visual arts as expressions of democracy;
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protest and actions beyond the ballot including civil rights movements and the struggles of historically marginalized people;
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and supporting new American citizens.
Museum Alliance of New York (MANY) is New York State’s representative of the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program, an outreach program of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service that brings traveling exhibitions, educational resources, and programming across America to communities through local museums, historical societies, and other cultural venues.
To learn more about A New Agora for New York: Museums as Spaces for Democracy and the Voices and Votes MoMS exhibition, visit nysmuseums.org/Voices-and-Votes.