Folger Shakespeare Library to Present Major Exhibition Surveying 450 Years of Black Women and Shakespeare

This show will offer the first comprehensive history of Black women's engagement with Shakespeare

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 16, 2026, the Folger Shakespeare Library will open To Hear Her Speak: Black Women and Shakespeare. Curated by Dr. Patricia Akhimie, Director of the Folger Institute, the exhibition explores the presence of Black women in the early modern world and how Black women have engaged Shakespeare both on and off the stage through the centuries. The exhibition brings together the work of writers, scholars, actors, and artists like Maya Angelou, Phillis Wheatley, Ida B. Wells, Toni Morrison, Lorraine Hansberry, Adjoa Andoh, Esther Rolle, and Mae Turner, and is supported by new scholarship, including the provenance of one of the Folger's First Folios.

Nearly 100 objects ranging from photographs, playbills, posters, books, diaries, illustrations, and costumes document the stories of renowned scholars, popular actors, and little-known historic figures—as well as how they all can be linked together. The show, which will be on view in the Folger's Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall, draws from the Folger's wide-ranging holdings as well as key loans. It will be the Folger's largest and most ambitious temporary exhibition since opening its new galleries in 2024.

"We are applying a wide lens to Shakespeare's depictions of Black women," said Akhimie. "The exhibition will show how Black women are represented—and misrepresented—through the eyes of early modern European artists and writers. Visitors will also be able to learn from the voices of Black women in a variety of forms of expression from across the more than four centuries that the exhibition will cover."

Named with a line from Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, To Hear Her Speak highlights the presence of Black women in London in Shakespeare's time as well as showcases the ways in which Black women applied Shakespeare's language, stories, and characters to their art and writing from Shakespeare's time to the present. One section of the exhibition will map the presence of Black women in Shakespeare's time, highlighting the diversity of early modern London. Another will explain how the First Folio, the first printing of all of Shakespeare's plays in 1623, became a status symbol at the height of the transatlantic slave trade. A third section details the stories of Black women who have performed Shakespeare and includes costumes for the Royal Shakespeare Company designed by Melissa Simon-Hartman, who has also designed costumes for Beyoncé. A final section examines the authors, artists, and playwrights who have drawn inspiration from Shakespeare or included him in their work. This includes Toni Morrison's handwritten notes on her play Desdemona as well as a playbill from Maya Angelou's production of Macbeth at Wake Forest University. Local artists like Suzanne Coley, whose books of Shakespeare's sonnets feature her own bindings, beadwork, and embroidery, also are featured in this section.

"This exhibition will lay to rest any question of whether Black women have had a long history of engagement with and affection for Shakespeare and it does so with impressive clarity," said Folger Shakespeare Library Director Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper. "The strength of the research is evident from Patricia's presentation of Shakespeare's London to the present day, and she's compelling audiences to follow this narrative through an array of beautiful and profound works that showcase the creativity and brilliance of Black women who were in a mighty dialogue with Shakespeare."

New Scholarship
Centering the lives of enslaved women is an important part of the exhibition. With the support of colleagues, Akhimie was able to confirm that First Folio 67 from the Folger's collection of First Folios was owned by a slave-owning family, the Fitzherberts, from the height of the slave trade until Henry and Emily Folger purchased it at auction in 1924. A copy of a handwritten record of enslaved people forced to work at one of the Fitzherbert family plantations, Turner's Hall, will be on view with the Folio. A copybook created by Phillis Wheatley, the first Black American author to publish a book of poetry in 1773, will also be on view adjacent to First Folio 67.

"The women whose lives are represented in the show have never been linked together in this way. This approach both reveals their humanity and tells a new story about why Shakespeare and the humanities are essential to us all," said Akhimie.

Exhibition Experience
Visitors to To Hear Her Speak will also have moments for hands-on experience, with an interactive table where activities like writing and copying inspirational texts will be available throughout the run of the exhibition. One video display will share clips of Lorraine Hansberry and others talking about Shakespeare and their own creative practices. Another video display will offer clips of performances by notable Black actors from the 1930s through the present. The show will also feature a reading area with books to browse that effectively serves as a miniature archive of centuries of writing related to Shakespeare and Black women's scholarship, creative writing, music, performance, and visual arts. The exhibition is designed by Little Wing Lee and her practice Studio & Projects, whose credits also include work at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. An audio guide narrated by Shakespearean actress and director Adjoa Andoh MBE, the Folger's inaugural Director's Resident who is best known for her role as Lady Danbury on Netflix's Bridgerton, will be available on the Folger's Bloomberg Connects Guide for visitors. The audio guide will also feature additional insights from Akhimie and scholars Kim F. Hall and Joyce Green MacDonald.

Accompanying the exhibition is a full-color catalog from ACMRS Press featuring essays by Akhimie, curatorial consultant Verónica Betancourt, Kim F. Hall, Ayanna Thompson, and many others. The catalog will publish on September 1.

A full slate of public programs accompanying the exhibition will be published early in the fall, and a press preview day will be held on October 14, 2026. Find exhibition details at folger.edu/speak.

A sample of object photography for this exhibition can be found at www.folger.edu/speak-presskit.

To Hear Her Speak: Black Women and Shakespeare will be on view at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC from October 16, 2026 through May 2, 2027. A $15 donation supports the Folger's programming.

Support
Support for this exhibition is made possible by Daniel W. Hamilton, the Henry Luce Foundation, Dell Technologies, and Room & Board Home Furnishings. 

About Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library showcases the utility of Shakespeare and the humanities in cultivating healthy civic life. Anchored by the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is also home to a world-renowned collection of books, manuscripts, and prints from the 1500s to the early 1700s. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from pathbreaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger fosters curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking, and welcomes visitors from Washington, DC and from across the globe. Learn more at folger.edu. 

SOURCE Folger Shakespeare Library