March 30th, 2026
The Exhibit with Marcia Kimm-Jackson
Marcia Kimm-Jackson (MKJ) is an artist and visionary who embodies the cultural brilliance of the Greater Boston Area. In a deep-dive interview with Kevin Small Jr. (KSJ), the Founder and President of SNAKE Magazine, she discusses some of the inspiration behind the Living Histories of Color of Hyde Park and Greater Boston exhibits and how her musical influences shape her perspective on community.
KSJ: TELL ME A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF, MARCIA.
MKJ: I’m a curator and a community activist. I've been doing that work for about 20 years. And in 2020, I decided that the stories of people of color needed to be told much more prolifically and much more directly and in more contemporary formats. I also realized that narratives about communities of color were so negative that we needed to really shift that narrative - to one with a positive tone that signifies our many contributions. This was the genesis of the Living Histories of Color Exhibit in Hyde Park and now Greater Boston. In terms of my background, I'm an educator. I've done corporate coaching and employee counseling and have a human resources, training, and, development background. In the community, I am a convener, advocate, connector, and curator. All of this I do with an equity lens - specifically, racial equity.
KSJ: SO A LOT OF THE HONOREES IN THIS EXHIBIT ARE THE LIVING LEGENDS OF OUR CITY, CORRECT?
MKJ: Correct. They are people who are doing what I call “firsts and onlys”. They're trailblazers and they are black and brown people doing work that is singular, groundbreaking, and often without a roadmap. They did not follow a path. They made one. I call them living histories because their legacies are not behind them. They are being written in real time.
KSJ: SO THAT GETS ME TO MY NEXT QUESTION, WHICH WILL TIE INTO THE MUSIC WORLD. IN MUSIC, WE TALK ABOUT GIVING PEOPLE THEIR FLOWERS WHILE THEY CAN STILL SMELL THEM. WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO STAGE THIS AT THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE SPECIFICALLY, AND HOW DO YOU THINK THIS CELEBRATION OF THE LIVING SHIFTS THE ENERGY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF BOSTON TRAILBLAZERS.
MKJ: Living Histories of Color is a calling card to the city and the state - a direct response to the narratives that have long defined Boston. Too often, the conversation about race in this city begins and ends with its failures. This exhibit refuses that,. It creates visibility for the positive racial history that has always existed here, and demands that Boston reckon with the the fullness of its story. So why was it important for it to be at the Massachusetts State House? The State House is a place where policy is shaped and history is really formally recognized. Bringing the exhibit to the State House really ensures that these lived experiences, these contributions, these people of color who are leading communities are not just seen as peripheral, but they're seen as central, central to an institution, to the state, to the Commonwealth. I think the second reason why we think of this as important in the State House is because it really affirms legacy. It's not just spaces; I think the placement of this exhibit in the State House transforms those narratives into making it a part of the common most shared public legacy and it validates it and it creates the sense that it's the highest civic level. One last reason is that it creates proximity between policymakers and lived experiences. Living Histories of Color brings the human story directly into the halls of power. For those making decisions at the State House, it grounds policy in lived experience- anchoring legislation in contemporary history and honoring the people of Boston whose lives, struggles, and contributions are inseparable from the work of this Commonwealth. Policy without people is just procedure. It can be hollow. When lawmakers see themselves and their constituents reflected in these stories, something shifts. Living Histories of Color doesn't just decorate the walls of the State House. It humanizes the work inside them, grounding Massachusetts policy in the contemporary history and moral authority of the people of Boston.
KSJ: MANY PEOPLE ARE INSPIRED BY MUSIC. WHAT TYPE OF IMPACT DID MUSIC HAVE ON CURATING THIS IDEA OF THE LIVING HISTORIES OF COLOR EXHIBIT?
MKJ: While I wouldn't say that there is a direct link to music terms of the concept and creation of this exhibit, I can say this: Music has always been the conscience of black and brown life in America and it lives quietly at the heart of this exhibit. To be black and brown is to be gifted. That is not a sentiment; it is a fact that James Brown declared, "I am Black and I am Proud", or that Nina Simone sang into existence with "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", that generations of freedom fighters carried in their feet and their voices. The stories in Living Histories of Color move to that same rhythm. They echo "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" - not as nostalgia, but as a living truth. These are people who refused to be moved from their purpose and this exhibit honors that refusal. Every generation finds its freedom song. Whoever we are, whatever station in life we find ourselves, we, people of the diaspora, find voices of freedom and expression. We are creative beings. We have moved with rhythm and expression. Living Histories of Color is a manifestation of our rhythm, our memorial, our anthem, our narrative. Like the spirituals that carried our ancestors through bondage, and the protest music that soundtracked our marches, this exhibit transforms narrative - shifting the rhythm of how Boston's people of color are seen, remembered, and honored. The faces in these images are freedom writers and freedom leaders. And like all great freedom songs, we hope they echo across generations long after this moment has passed. Like the spirituals and protest music that carried generations forward, Living Histories of Color exists to transform narrative and memorialize our movement through history. The people in this exhibit are freedom writers and freedom leaders and these images are their song. We hope they echo across generations as the way the best freedom songs always do: louder with time and impossible to silence. If this exhibit had a soundtrack, it would span everything: Negro spirituals, gospel, the blues, jazz, R&B, protest music. Marvin Gaye asking "What's Going On?" Common and John Legend singing "Glory." And underneath all of it holding it together. "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Those are the songs I come back to because they carry everything this exhibit carries - continuity, cultural power, truth-telling, black and brown pride, collective struggle, celebration, pride, uplift, and endurance. That's the through-line. That's always been the through-line of our stories, our lives, and our history - past and present.