Saturday, August 8, 2026 - Sunday, August 9, 2026
Acclaimed author and historian A'Lelia Bundles visits to illuminate the dazzling A’Lelia Walker objects featured in current exhibition Joyful Resistance.
Items on display uplift the story of the Dark Tower as a vital gathering place in American cultural history, as well as showing the opulence that saturated fashion and objects of the time.
Through vivid storytelling, Bundles brings to life her great-grandmother A'Lelia Walker, the daughter of famed haircare mogul Madame C.J. Walker, and the extraordinary community of artists, writers, and thinkers who shaped the Harlem Renaissance within A'Lelia Walker's legendary salon: the Dark Tower. The evening also includes a book talk and signing of Bundles’ recent release, Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, offering deeper insight into a woman whose legacy of joy and resistance continues to inspire. Books will be available for purchase in the Museum Store.
Saturday, August 8, 2026
Member exclusive tour of Joyful Resistance with A'Lelia Bundles | 1 p.m. | Reserve your place HERE
Join us for a member-exclusive tour of current exhibition Joyful Resistance with A'Lelia Bundles. Items from Bundles' great-grandmother, A'Lelia Walker, are currently on display in the exhibition.
Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance Book Conversation and Signing | 2:30 p.m. | Get your ticket HERE
Join us for a special presentation on A'Lelia Walker's new book, detailing the life and legacy of her great-grandmother and namesake, A'Lelia Walker. Walker was a keystone of the Harlem Renaissance and at the center of the Black artistry, creativity, community and culture of the time. Her legendary salon, the Dark Tower, hosted such artistic greats as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois and more, serving as the place from which some of the greatest poems, novels, songs and artworks emerged.
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Museum Conversation: A'Lelia Bundles | 1 p.m. | Reserve your place HERE
Join A'Lelia Bundles and director of community engagement and assistant curator for the Peoria Riverfront Museum Everley Davis for a Museum Conversation in the Giant Screen Theater. This event is FREE thanks to the generous support of Art Bridges, as part of the museum's Access for All free day.
Tour of Joyful Resistance | 2:30 p.m.
Join A'Lelia Bundles and Everley Davis in Joyful Resistance to talk about some of the objects on display from A'Lelia Walker, Bundles' great-grandmother and the subject of Bundles' latest book.
Joyful Resistance sponsored by Art Bridges Foundation, Ron and Carrie Givens and Family, Darlene Violet, Sharlyn Munns, America 250 supporters, Visionary Society, Illinois Arts Council, Friends of Bronzeville to Harlem
