Malcolm X Park Drum Circle Rack Card

Every Sunday, a group of drummers and dancers congregate in the Malcolm X Park Drum Circle in Northwest DC. The circle has been in operation since the late 1960s and has historically been a vessel of Afro-diasporic culture, pride, and joy. Its membership was explicitly policed, with only Black and male members allowed to participate. This is no longer the case and over the years, the circle's members have become more diverse. For some, this liberalization has led to a certain dilution of the drum circle as recent arrivals participate while being unfamiliar with certain traditional rhythmic, timbral, historical, and instrumental conventions. I commissioned these 5x7 inch rack cards to tell the history of this cultural practice. Whenever I attend the drum circle, I hand them out to curious onlookers, who often number in the dozens.