WASHINGTON (AP) — Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Sean Combs and Serena Williams now have a place in the National Portrait Gallery in a new show featuring leading black figures from entertainment, politics, sports and business.
“The Black List” opens Friday featuring 50 large-scale photographs from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ project that also included a 2008 HBO film.
WATCH MSNBC COVERAGE OF THE BLACK LIST:
[MSNBCMSN video=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640″ w=”592″ h=”346″ launch_id=”45066351^90^230330″ id=”msnbc8acd97″]
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The idea came from the historical term, “blacklist,” referring to a marginalized group. But Greenfield-Sanders says he wanted to turn the phrase into a roll call of distinction to show the broad achievements of African Americans that many people don’t know about.
So beyond celebrities, it also includes influential but lesser-known figures.
A smaller exhibit has been shown in New York and Los Angeles. But the Smithsonian show is the first to feature all 50 of the portraits.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.