Every story in the Vault

People

• Archangel Michael Our Archangel Michael is darkskin, his afro crowned in a halo, and the devil under his feet is the pale one.
• Denzil Dowell Denzil Dowell's face is on the first front page the Black Panthers ever printed.
• Gloria Hendry Gloria Hendry brought a Black leading lady to the big screen when Hollywood rarely let one lead.
• Jesus of Nazareth In the icons we carry, Jesus is painted melanated, a man of the Jordan Valley.
• Jim Kelly Jim Kelly put melanin at the center of the fight, on his own terms.
• John the Baptist In the icon on our piece, John the Baptist is a melanated prophet, brown-skinned at the Jordan.
• Prester John Prester John was the king Europe searched the whole world for: a Black Christian king of Ethiopia.
• Saints Florus and Laurus In the icon we carry, Florus and Laurus are painted swarthy and brown, receiving the reins from the Archangel Michael.
• Thành Thái Thành Thái's portrait shows a brown-skinned king who would not be a puppet.
• Virgin Mary In the icons we carry, Mary is a Black Madonna: face and hands deep brown, the gold and robes still bright.

Places

• Benin City
• Brazil Brazil counts most of its people as preto or pardo: one of the largest Black populations on earth.
• Comoros The mother and child on our Comoros stamp are melanated, as the islands are.
• Dresden In Dresden's royal treasury, the centerpiece is a highly melanated figure.
• Guatemala Guatemala's first stamps chose an autochthonous woman as the face of the nation.
• Guinea On this stamp, the women of Guinea stand darkskin and crowned in their own braids.
• Jordan River In the icons we carry, the men in the Jordan are painted brown.
• North Richmond, California
• Paris
• Rwanda Rwanda's stamps put melanated mothers and children on the record.
• Salvador, Bahia Salvador is the preto and pardo heart of Afro-Brazil.
• Sardinia
• Senegal Senegal's stamps crowned darkskin women as the face of the republic.
• Vietnam Vietnam's emperors and people are part of the melanated record we keep.

Events

• Baptism of Christ (Theophany) In this icon, Christ and John are both painted melanated, brown-skinned in the river.
• Festa de Yemanjá The Festa de Yemanjá is Black faith in public, on the water.
• Jardin d'Acclimatation Exhibitions Paris put melanated people of the Americas on display, and sold tickets.
• The Ascension In this icon, Christ and the apostles are painted brown-skinned.
• The Burning Bush In the icon we carry, the holy figures are painted melanated.
• The Dormition In the Dormition we carry, the apostles and angels gathered at Mary's bier are painted melanated.

Eras

• Baroque era Baroque courts put melanated figures at the center of their treasure.
• Blaxploitation era Blaxploitation put Black faces at the center of the screen.
• French Indochina French rule was resisted by brown-skinned kings and people alike.
• Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn emperors we carry are melanated rulers of their own land.

Artifacts

• 1878 Guatemala "Indian Woman" Stamps The woman on these stamps is an Indigenous queen of the Americas, aboriginal to this land.
• Benin Bronzes The melanated court of Benin, cast in bronze by its own guild.
• Four Moors of Sardinia Four Black heads sit at the heart of Sardinia's arms: Moors, set in a European crest.
• Moor with Emerald Cluster His skin is deep black against gold, silver and emeralds: a highly melanated king of the Americas.
• Rwanda "Fight Against Nuclear Weapons" Stamps The mother and child on this stamp are melanated, and so is the protest.

Themes

• African Diaspora Faith These are melanated faiths, carried across the ocean and never let go.
• Anti-colonial Resistance These are the Black, brown and Indigenous people who refused the colonizer's terms.
• Black Cinema Melanin, center frame. Our Black Belt Jones piece puts two leads in one frame: Jim Kelly and Gloria Hendry, fists up, dressed to kill.
• Black Joy Lightskin, darkskin, all of us at ease and laughing.
• Found Photographs Every face here is melanated, and every one deserves a name.
• Indigenous Americas The first peoples of this land were autochthonous: born of this soil, here before the paper.
• Inexplicables We ask whose melanated hands built what the official story can't explain.
• Peace and Protest Newly free Black nations put their protest on their stamps.
• Postage Stamps On these stamps, melanated nations drew their own faces.
• Sacred Icons In every icon we carry, the holy figures are dark-skinned.