Introduction

Regardless of background or present position, everyone has felt the effects of COVID-19. Yet while the virus might sicken and kill indiscriminately, existing inequalities in African American communities has created a dispropotionate impact. African Americans, for example, account for only 26% of Milwaukee's population. Yet according to the city's Department of Health, the black community accounts for the overwhelming majority of the city's COVID-19 cases.

This exhibit focuses on both the plight and the resiliency of Milwaukee's African Americans community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 goes well beyond the viral infection itself. The limitations on resources (health, education and financial) render disadvantaged communities more vulnerable in the pandemic. In addition to the impact of the virus, however, this exhibit documents the adaptations of African American businesses, the call to service in the community, and the methods of self-care Milwaukee's black community employed in order to fight the disease.