The Black Male Identity Project is a groundbreaking and provocative community-driven effort including workshops, performances, celebrations, and exhibitions. It is designed to combat the prevailing negative image of black men by allowing the members of that group—and those who love and understand them—to redefine what it means to be black and male.
The project aims to stimulate a community-wide dialogue that will in part begin with a website, www.morethan28days.com. Through the website, the public is invited to engage in online conversation, see images and read stories about black male identity, and share positive images and stories around this subject. The website includes resources for educators who wish to engage in the project and information on multiple ways for artists and the public to participate.
In addition, Youth Provocateurs, a team of high-school and college-aged young adults, will use the performing arts as a street organizing and grassroots outreach arm of the project, attending community meetings throughout Baltimore and making presentations for schools, nonprofit organizations, and other groups.
At the end of the project’s year, participants will have built a repository of images that counter the prevailing narrative about black males. The goal is to provide that repository as a free tool to all, in an effort to change perceptions, relationships and, ultimately, lives.
The Black Male Identity Project is an initiative of Art on Purpose, a Campaign for Black Male Achievement grantee. Footage from CBS News Baltimore coverage of the Black Male Identity Project launch is available here: http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/03/24/black-male-identity-project-hopes-to-change-black-male-image/