Great Migration Sponsorship

Pittsburgh and the Great Migration: Black Mobility and the Automobile (May 6, 2023 - February 4, 2024) examines automobile ownership’s effect on Black lives during the first wave of the Great Migration (1916 to 1955) when two million African Americans left the South, seeking a better quality of life. The exhibition explores the strong Black communities thriving in Pittsburgh in this period, which attracted migrants from Alabama and Virginia. It will look at how neighborhoods like the Hill District expanded and changed with the influx of Southern Blacks and the role the automobile and transportation played in this change.

Buying a car is one of the first steps many take as they transition into the middle class, but for Black car owners, this step was more than just a symbol of “making it.” Automobile ownership provided a real sense of freedom. It was freedom from the remembered restraints of slavery, freedom from timetables of trains and buses, and most importantly, freedom of unrestricted mobility, the ability to come and go as one pleases.

Your support helps to make this exciting exhibition possible! Please consider making a gift today.

Please note that gifts made before April 21, 2023 will receive public recognition on exhibition signage.

 Sponsors at all levels receive:

  • Recognition on a panel in the exhibition
  • Recognition on The Frick Pittsburgh’s website
  • Invitation to all exhibition-related events

Partner+

  • Sponsorship credit for an educational program of your choice

For more information, please contact Maddy Rolla, Manager of Individual Support, at MRolla@TheFrickPittsburgh.org or (412) 342-4098.