Softness Was Always Ours is a digital and physical exhibit that reclaims tenderness, joy, and grace in the lives of Black women and girls. For generations, mainstream narratives have often overlooked or distorted these qualities. Through the lens of Jacksonville photographer Ellie Lee Weems (1901–1983), this exhibit celebrates the elegance, resilience, and everyday beauty captured in his portraits between 1928 and 1978. To enrich the storytelling, images from the Weems collection are joined by materials from the Annie L. McPheeters Papers, the Utopian Literary Club Records, and the Rare Periodicals and Newspaper Collection.

The photographs presented here highlight moments of love, style, family, sisterhood, and community. Together, they challenge limiting stereotypes by centering Black women’s softness not as fragility, but as strength, inheritance, and joy.

As you explore the exhibit, you’ll encounter themes such as adornment, resilience, weddings, and sisterhood. Each theme offers a window into stories that affirm: softness has always been present, always deserved, and always ours.

We invite you to enjoy this exhibit and to see softness revealed in its many forms — graceful, joyful, and ever-present.