In the Face of History Freedom Cape Fashion Workshop
Join Prospect Park Alliance Artist in Residence Adama Delphine Fawundu and the Shirley Chisholm Cultural Institute for a family-friendly event to create and share superhero capes inspired the legacy of Shirley Chisholm and Fawundu’s performance piece In the Face of History Freedom Cape. Bring scraps of fabric or make use of fabric provided to decorate and sew your superhero cape. Once your cape is complete, get your portrait taken in your freedom cape and participate in a fashion show.
Fawundu’s 2020 performance piece In the Face of History Freedom Cape, which was filmed in part at Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park, centers, rethinks, reimagines, and reveals the role that Black women play in our nation and throughout the world. The cape is crafted from historical documents printed on fabric with the head of a Black woman transposed on each document.
The powerful performance piece and cape also features Brooklyn trailblazer Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to run for Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Chisholm was a beacon of perseverance and dedication in Brooklyn and far beyond. As a leader and an advocate for residents of Brooklyn and the country at large, Chisholm made a profound impact fighting for equality for all. In the Face of History Freedom Cape is symbolic of the continued struggle for Black women to be treated fairly as citizens of the United States of America.