On Friday, March 8, the Tubman Museum will host a reception to celebrate the opening of an exhibition which pays tribute to local men and women who served in the Vietnam War. Entitled The Black Vietnam Veterans Portrait Project: Photographs by Johnny Crawford, the exhibit features 31 large-scale portrait photos of black service men and women from Macon and the Middle Georgia region, all of whom are veterans of the Vietnam War.

The mission of the Black Vietnam Veterans Portrait Project is to educate present and future Americans about the black men and women in their community that served, suffered and died fighting for democracy and civil rights on behalf of South Vietnam, even though they did not have those rights themselves. The goal is to produce portraits from every state in the country. These portraits will serve as a tribute and symbolic visual history of the 275,000 black men and women who served in combat and supply services in all branches of the United States military during the Vietnam War.

Johnny Crawford is a visual storyteller and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the last thirty-six years he has travelled across forty-five states and to four continents producing images that document the human spirit. Currently he is an adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Mercer University in Macon.

The opening reception for this exhibition will be at the Museum on Friday, March 8, 2019 from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. Admission to this event is free for Museum members, and a discounted fee of $5.00 for non-members. The Tubman Museum is located at 310 Cherry Street in downtown Macon, Georgia. The exhibition will remain on view at the Tubman through April 6, 2019. For more information about this event, and other Tubman programs call the Museum (478-743-8544) or go online at www.tubmanmuseum.com.