Dana Chandler, “A Proposal to Eradicate Institutional Racism at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,” 1970

Front page of a manifesto titled “A Proposal to Eradicate Institutional Racism at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.”

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Archives.

In 1970, Chandler wrote “A Proposal to Eradicate Institutional Racism at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,” a manifesto challenging the MFA (and, by inference, similar institutions) to represent Black artists in their collections and exhibitions, and to support Black self-determination in the arts by financially backing Black-centered arts institutions. The manifesto and subsequent exchange between Chandler and then MFA director Perry T. Rathbone is available online as part of “Black Power in Print.”