Portia James
American curator and historian
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Portia James (March 11, 1953 - December 2, 2015) was an American curator and historian. A specialist in African-American material culture, she worked as the cultural resources manager of the Anacostia Community Museum.[1]
Portia James | |
|---|---|
Portia James, 1985. | |
| Born | March 11, 1953 |
| Died | December 2, 2015 (aged 62) |
| Occupation | cultural resources manager |
Life
James graduated from Wayne State University, and Howard University.[2]
James' exhibition work included The Real McCoy: African American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930 (1989); Black Mosaic: Community, Race and Ethnicity among Black Immigrants in Washington, DC (1994); Down Through the Years: Stories from the Anacostia Museum Collection (1996);[3] East of the River: Continuity and Change (2007); Jubilee: African American Celebration (2008);[4] Exercise Your Mynd: Bk Adams I AM ART (2012); Arture (2012); Ubuhle Women: Beadwork and the Art of Independence (2013);[5] and Hand of Freedom: The Life and Legacy of the Plummer Family (2015). She researched the life of Leslie J. Payne.[6]
Selected works
- James, Portia. "Building a Community-Based Identity at Anacostia Museum." Curator: The Museum Journal. 39:1 (1996): 19-44.
- James, Portia. The Real McCoy: African-American Invention and Innovations, 1619-1930. Washington: Smithsonian Institution (1990). ISBN 0874745578
- James, Portia. Building Immigrant Community Life in Washington DC: A Public History Approach," Trotter Review, Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 4