Join us for a powerful conversation between artist and curator Julie Ault and archivist Julie Herrada as we celebrate the opening of "American Sampler: Activating the Archive", UMMA’s new landmark exhibition. Together they’ll discuss how archival research, curatorial practice, and artistic vision come together in the exhibition to illuminate histories of dissent that continue to influence the social landscape of the United States.

"American Sampler: Activating the Archive" is a research-driven, immersive exhibition curated by MacArthur Fellow Julie Ault in UMMA’s Vertical Gallery, in collaboration with the Joseph A. Labadie Collection of anarchism, protest, and social movements housed in the U-M Library’s Special Collections Research Center. The exhibition centers on 1950s–1970s movements for Black freedom, civil rights, and antiwar activism, clarifying the aspirations and effects as well as the violent opposition these movements encountered. American Sampler invites visitors to examine how legacies of grassroots organizing and protest in U.S. history shape the present. This ambitious project is the inaugural collaboration of the new Labadie Collection and UMMA Fellowship Program.