Performance: suite for a minor meeting

Join Tufts University Art Galleries (TUAG) in partnership with the Museum of African American History (MAAH) for the presentation of  suite for a minor meeting, a new, site-specific performance by artist Jonathan González, who works at the intersections of choreography, sculpture, text, and media.  

González’s performance, inspired by their print series on view in the exhibition Magical Thinking, of Systems and Beliefs at TUAG / Boston (230 Fenway) through April 19, 2026, draws from a rich array of sources: Asher Benjamin’s architectural renderings; William Grant Still Jr.’s Harlem Renaissance compositions; Roland Hayes’ 1974 arrangement of the African American Spiritual Lit’l Boy; abolitionist legacies deeply tied to the Meeting House through Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Sarah Grimké; and contemporary scholarship on emancipation and the Black Commons by Rinaldo Walcott, Fred Moten & Stefano Harney, and J.T. Roane.  

Staged within the historic African Meeting House—the oldest surviving Black church building in the United States—this collaboration underscores a shared commitment to stewarding Black cultural memory, celebrating artistic innovation, and activating historic sites through contemporary creative practices. The program, part of MAAH’s Black History Month calendar of events, is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and reservations are encouraged.  

This collaboration juxtaposes González’s expansive research and interdisciplinary artistry with one of Boston’s most significant landmarks of Black community life, political organization, and abolitionist history.   

Featuring vocalists Ifeanyi Epum, Ogechi Okoye, and Valentine Umeh, suite for a minor meeting unfolds as a guided experience through the architecture of the African Meeting House.   

A pre-performance reception begins at 5:00 PM and the program begins at 5:30 PM at the African Meeting House, which is located on MAAH’s Beacon Hill campus at 46 Joy Street, Boston.  

The processional element of the performance involves movement up two flights of stairs. Accessible pathways are available.   

We strive to make our exhibitions and programming accessible for all audiences. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how to best make a program accessible for you, please email galleryaccessibility@tufts.edu.  

About the Museum of African American History (MAAH),  Boston / Nantucket  

 The Museum of African American History connects colonial and early African American history and culture in Boston and the larger New England area with the abolition of slavery and current explorations of race and the struggle for human rights.  

Home to four original African American buildings built at the birth of the nation and still standing, the museum illuminates, interprets, and preserves the birthplace for the abolitionist movement and the continuing struggle for human rights.  

The Museum is a not-for-profit historical institution that began holding exhibitions and public gatherings in 1963, and is nationally and internationally known for its collection of historic sites in Boston and Nantucket.