Melvin McCray III Brings “Black Women Who Changed the World” to Landmark Women of Color Photography Exhibition at Kenkeleba House
Eight intimate portraits from Black Women Who Changed the World debut alongside 200 works by 60 photographers in a six-decade survey of Black women’s visual history.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 5, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Melvin McCray III
(917) 748-4122 | melvinmccray@gmail.com
VENUE CONTACT
The Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House
214 East Second Street, New York, NY 10009
Corrine Jennings: (212) 647-3939 | Kenkeleba@msn.com
A photographer’s book becomes an exhibition centerpiece
New York—Melvin McCray III’s new book Black Women Who Changed the World arrives not only on the page, but on the wall.
Beginning February 4, 2026, eight of McCray’s portraits—drawn from his forthcoming book—will be featured prominently in Women of Color: Long Journey Forward, and Still We Rise, a landmark group exhibition at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House, curated by Howard Cash and Jamel Shabazz.
McCray, a former ABC World News Tonight editor and longtime documentary photographer, presents intimate, hard-won images of women he has known, photographed, and learned from over decades: Angela Davis, Kathleen Cleaver, Katherine Dunham, Viola Plummer, Iesha Sekou, Adelaide Sanford, Letitia James, and the Maasai Women’s Circle of Tanzania.
“These are not distant icons to me,” McCray says. “Some I met only briefly; others became friends and mentors. I wanted to honor them in a way that moves beyond the news cycle—into history.”
When the Women of Color exhibition took shape, McCray felt compelled to create a book so audiences could not only see these women, but read their stories, hear their voices, and understand their impact. The result is Black Women Who Changed the World, available for pre-order on-site and online, with a publication date of March 1, 2026.
https://www.melvinmccrayiii.com/store/black-women-who-changed-the-world
The Exhibition: Six Decades, Sixty Photographers
After McCray’s opening presence, the exhibition widens dramatically.
Women of Color: Long Journey Forward, and Still We Rise assembles over 200 photographs by more than 60 Black photographers, spanning the 1960s to today. The show is the second installment in Kenkeleba House’s acclaimed Long Journey Forward series, following 2024’s Black Men in Passage.
Rather than treating Black women as subjects of an outside gaze, the exhibition centers self-authorship—Black photographers defining Black womanhood on their own terms.
“This is not documentation,” the curators frame it. “This is testimony.”
The works range from formal portraiture to street photography, from quiet interior moments to bold public presence—together forming a visual archive that is intimate, political, celebratory, and unapologetically complex.
Curators’ Vision: From Stolen Images to Self-Definition
Curators Howard Cash and Jamel Shabazz—two towering figures in Black photography—shape the exhibition as an act of visual justice.
Cash, whose career spans five decades of Black cultural life, explains:
“The idea was to showcase the beauty, the poise, the dignity, and the culture of our women. Photography was once used against us; now we tell our own story.”
Shabazz sees the show as a bridge between generations:
“A whole new wave of young Black photographers and filmmakers are emerging. This exhibition says: your vision belongs here.”
Other Featured Artists
Among the exhibition’s contributors is documentary photographer Kay Hickman, whose precise, respectful portraits insist on nuance and dignity. Her work exemplifies the ethic that binds the show: care, clarity, and cultural accountability. “I always want to capture people—especially Black women—in their light, in their beauty,” she says, describing an approach defined by care and rigor. “That respect doesn’t change, no matter who I’m photographing.”
For Collectors & Institutions
Original photographs and limited-edition prints are available throughout the run of the exhibition. This is a rare opportunity to acquire work from a multi-generational survey that redefines who shapes the visual archive of Black life.
McCray’s books—Black Women Who Changed the World and Four Extraordinary Leaders: Mandela, Lewis, Obama, Nyerere—will be available for pre-order at the gallery and online.
Promotional Video: https://vimeo.com/1157754277
Why You Should Attend
Walk into a room where Angela Davis shares wall space with the Maasai Women’s Circle. Where street photographers and fine artists meet in the same visual conversation. Where six decades of Black women’s history collapse into one powerful present tense.
Meet Melvin McCray III at book signings. Hear the curators. And stand before 200 images that were not made about Black women—but made by them, for them, and finally seen on their own terms.
EVENT DETAILS
Exhibition Dates: February 4 – March 28, 2026
Gallery Hours: Wednesday–Saturday, 11 AM – 6 PM
Opening Reception:
Saturday, February 7, 2026 | 2–5 PM
Artist Talk & Book Signing:
Saturday, March 7, 2026 | 2–5 PM
(Melvin McCray III on-site)
Location:
Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba House
214 East Second Street, New York, NY 10009