The Anacostia Community Museum will be closed from January 8, 2024-March 22, 2024. We will reopen on Saturday, March 23, 2024 with our next exhibition, A Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC,1900-2000. We hope you will join us! 

Lorton Reformatory: Beyond Time

Charcoal Drawing of Elderly Woman, Clive Gilmore, 1970. Collection of the Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

October 11, 1970 – November 1, 1970
Anacostia Community Museum1901 Fort Place, SE
Washington, DC

Lorton Reformatory is a corrections facility near Washington, DC. As of September 1970, Lorton houses 1,600 residents, most of whom are from the District. In collaboration with inmates, the museum hosts community discussions, or "rap sessions," and presents art works, concerts, and original plays to promote understanding of the men’s lives. The residents’ creative spirit comes through in paintings, ceramics, and other visual arts, as well as musical ensembles and theatrical groups.

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