The Boca Raton Museum of Art has commissioned Reginald Cunningham, nationally acclaimed for his brand BePureBlack.com, for a new series of photographs to honor the nearby historically Black neighborhood of Pearl City, celebrated as one of the earliest and longest lasting African American neighborhoods in Florida. “The Pearl City residents are our Museum’s closest neighbors, located only two blocks away, and we want to celebrate our neighbors with this exhibition,” says Irvin Lippman, the Executive Director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Reginald Cunningham: Black Pearls opens this month, and will run through January 22, 2023.
Cunningham is a photographer and influencer whose work focuses on urban style and portraiture. His editorial/activist lens, and his images of concerts, fashion icons, performers and thought leaders, are at the forefront of contemporary photography. “Through the lens of my photography I’m always trying to create affinity for and uplift Black people and the Black experience in this country,” says Cunningham. “Being commissioned by the Boca Raton Museum of Art to photograph the residents and cultural emblems of Pearl City ─ one of the South’s most beloved and enduring Black districts ─ is an amazing experience.” During the 2020 history-making marches and protests, Cunningham was selected to photograph the cover of British Vogue’s special issue titled Activism Now: the Faces of Hope. Featuring a portrait he took of his wife, the prominent activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham, the headline-grabbing magazine cover was heralded as a consequential power-couple move.
Founded in 1915, Pearl City predated the incorporation of the surrounding City of Boca Raton by a decade. “This is one of South Florida’s oldest neighborhoods, and the only historically Black community in Boca Raton,” says Dr. Candace Cunningham, Assistant Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University. “More than a century ago, a land auction was held and African Americans purchased thirty lots that day to create Pearl City. Yet, as was often the case in the segregated South, their opportunities paled in comparison to those presented to White Americans, who also purchased land at two other Boca Raton land auctions that day and they got larger lots for less money. Rooted in Pearl City’s creation were socioeconomic disparities its residents continue to fight today. Those disparities pushed African Americans out of Georgia and the Carolinas and pulled them into southern Florida. It was by no means the land of opportunity for Blacks, but it did offer more options than they were finding elsewhere during that time in history,” she adds.
Decades later, the descendants of those Pearl City pioneers found it necessary to protect the community their ancestors built. As the city grew, Pearl City’s location became more appealing to encroaching real estate developers who wanted to rezone the area for commercial use. Thanks to the work of the Developing Interracial Social Change organization, and to many other community activists, this Museum project is part of a larger effort to advocate for the designation of Pearl City as a State of Florida Historic District.
This exhibition, curated by Kelli Bodle, Associate Curator of the Boca Raton Museum of Art, features 24 photographs by Reginald Cunningham, and personal mementos passed down through families for more than 100 years. With the aid of Dr. Cunningham, Black Pearls also features the oral histories of both current-day Pearl City residents and the children of the original settlers that have moved to other cities. Visitors to the Museum may hear the stories in the subjects’ own words via audio and transcribed video of the interviews. Interest in Pearl City has blossomed, and residents celebrate their community’s honored past. In recognizing their own history they see a connection to the broader struggle for equal rights.
To many of these residents, holding on to their land is almost sacred. When it comes to this community’s connection to its history, it is clear that some things simply are not for sale.
– excerpts from the essay written by Dr. Candace Cunningham in the Museum’s exhibition catalog.
Photos courtesy of the exhibition Reginald Cunningham: Black Pearls.
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