Softness Was Always Ours explores Black womanhood through photographs, printed materials, and archival objects spanning the 1880s through the 1980s.

Drawing from more than 35 collections at the Auburn Avenue Research Library, the exhibit examines grace, adornment, leisure, intellect, vulnerability, joy, and self-presentation as essential parts of Black life and identity.

Visitors are invited to move slowly through the exhibit and consider the many ways Black women and girls cultivated beauty, care, refinement, and personal expression across generations.