Diamond In The Back

In 2021, Sixty began a two-year partnership with The Blackivists on their community archiving initiative Diamond in the Back: Excavating Chicago’s Black Cultural and Material Heritage, a project that seeks to excavate and amplify unknown gems of cultural and material heritage of the Black community. With a non-extractive, post-custodial approach, The Blackivists provided resources to a cohort of local residents and groups that have a demonstrated interest in or are currently archiving, documenting, and preserving aspects of the Black experience in the Chicagoland area. The Blackivists is a collective of trained Black archivists who prioritize Black cultural heritage preservation and memory work. The project is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.