#  Manifest: Thirteen Colonies 

 



       ![two baby dolls face each other; one is black and one is white.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/peabody/files/hero-manifest-nmaahc_babydoll_clarks-2_cwendel_white.jpg?itok=Uv55DdOm) 

 

 



 

 



 

### Manifest: Thirteen Colonies 

 

*“These artifacts are the forensic evidence of Black life and events in the United States.”*

—Wendel A. White, photographer



 





### May 18, 2024–April 13, 2025 

 

*Manifest: Thirteen Colonies* is a photographic engagement with African American material culture housed in collections throughout the thirteen original United States colonies and Washington, D.C.

*“...the show is sweeping in implication and expressivity.”*

—Mark Feeney, *Boston Globe*



 



      ![two baby dolls face each other, one white and one black.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/peabody/files/babydoll_clarks-2_cwendel_white.jpg?itok=sOxloC2H) 

 

 

  

 



 

[Wendel A. White](https://wendelwhite.com/), the 2021 recipient of the Peabody Museum’s Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography, explains that his photographs are “a response to the collective physical remnants of the American concept and representation of race.”

Two special events on Thursday, September 26, 2024

[**ArtsThursdays: Manifest Thirteen Colonies**](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/calendar_event/artsthursdays-manifest-thirteen-colonies/) a free, fun night at the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture with activities (5:00–9:00 pm)

[***Manifest: Thirteen Colonies*** **Book Launch and Conversation**](https://prod-peabody.drupalsites.harvard.edu/video-manifest-thirteen-colonies-book-launch-and-conversation) with Wendel A. White, Cheryl Finley, Leigh Raiford, Deborah Willis, and Brenda Tindal (Conversation is in-person and online 6:00–7:30 pm ET)



 



      ![an old book with rough pages in focus and the blurry cover facing up and away from view.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/peabody/files/manifest-ghs-abolition_clarkson_vol2_cwendel_white.jpg?itok=IyRt6OkZ) 

 

 

  

 



 

The exhibition is accompanied by a monograph, [*Wendel A. White: Manifest | Thirteen Colonies*](https://www.radiusbooks.org/all-books/p/wendel-a-white-manifest-thirteen-colonies), (Radius Books/Peabody Museum Press, Summer 2024), which includes text by Brenda Dione Tindal, Cheryl Finley, Deborah Willis, Leigh Raiford, and Peabody Museum Curator of Visual Anthropology Ilisa Barbash.

The museum presented a special public in-person and online [exhibition preview event](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/calendar_event/manifest-thirteen-colonies-exhibition-preview-amp-conversation/) on Thursday, May 16, 2024 with Wendel White in conversation with William E. Williams of Haverford College.

Learn more about [White's Gardner Fellowship](/wendel-white "Wendel White") and the [Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography](/robert-gardner-fellowship-photography "Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography").



 



      ![book standing up with spine reading wendel a white and cover shows an old book with manifest thirteen colonies title.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/peabody/files/card-manifest_book.png?itok=do755FA0) 

 

 

  

 



 

Watch a [public program](/node/1551696) (1:08:50) about the Manifest: Thirteen Colonies project with Wendel White in conversation with public historian Brenda Tindal. A full transcript is provided.

*Recorded April 7, 2022.*



 



      ![video thumbnail of book with pages wide open in a fan and speaker in the corner.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/peabody/files/manifest_video_thumbnail.png?itok=siefkDYm) 

 

 

  

 



 

 

 

 

Watch a [public program](https://prod-peabody.drupalsites.harvard.edu/video-manifest-thirteen-colonies-book-launch-and-conversation) (56:20) about the *Manifest: Thirteen Colonies* book with Wendel White in conversation with book contributors Cheryl Finley, Leigh Raiford, and Deborah Willis, moderated by public historian Brenda Tindal. A full transcript is provided.

*Recorded September 26, 2024.*



 



      ![guest speakers seated on stage with wendel white.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-01/manifest_book_launch_thumbnail.png?itok=9YzN0buy) 

 

 

  

 



 

 

 

Listen to the HMSC Connects podcast "A Discussion about Manifest: Thirteen Colonies, and New Photo Exhibition at the Peabody Museum with Photographer Wendel White." Read the [podcast transcript](https://hmsc.harvard.edu/2024/05/29/a-discussion-about-manifest-thirteen-colonies-and-new-photo-exhibition-at-the-peabody-museum-with-photographer-wendel-white/).



 

  

 



 

 

 

Baby Dolls, Kenneth and Mamie Clark, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, 2016 *© Wendel White*

The History of the Rise, Progress, & Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade *by the British Parliament, Volume 2, Thomas Clarkson. Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, GA © Wendel White*

Wendel A. White: Manifest | Thirteen Colonies *book image courtesy Radius Books*



 

 



 

 See also:- [ North America ](/region/north-america)