Brandi T. Summers curates exhibition opening July 18 in Oakland (Oakland Museum)

Professor Brandi T. Summers is curating an exhibition that navigates the braided histories of displacement, resistance, and resilience within Black American communities in Oakland and the East Bay.

“Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain” runs July 18 through Feb. 1, 2026, at the Oakland Museum of California. Through new commissions in art, architecture, and archival research, the exhibition traces how these communities have creatively resisted dispossession and reimagined spaces of home and belonging. The exhibit pulls both from the museum’s permanent collection and newly commissioned works by artist Adrian Burrell, architect June Grant, and the Archive of Urban Futures.

Summers is an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department.