In its 16 year existence, The Black Lunch Table has taken a variety of forms including Wikipedia edit-a-thons.

Black Lunch Table Wikimedians mobilize the creation and improvement of a specific set of Wikipedia articles that pertain to the lives and works of Black artists. In the field of mainstream contemporary art, Black artists are still marginalized within our field.

Wikipedia estimates that 77% of their editors are white and 91% of their editors are men. Our work shifts this demographic and empowers people to write their own history. Our sessions and events, including BLT Photobooth and edit-a-thons, equip new editors with the skills and resources to create, update, and improve Wikipedia articles and encourages existing editors to focus on Wikipedia knowledge gaps.

BLT edit-a-thons have taken place at MOMA, NY Public Library, the McColl Center in Charlotte, the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, and Project Row Houses in Houston. Internationally we have hosted edit-a-thons at Bridge Books in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Banff Centre in Alberta Canada. Check out our map of all the locations we have hosted edit-a-thons!

Black Lunch Table (BLT) will host a hybrid online/in-person edit-a-thon on June 25th, 2022. Black Lunch Table Wikimedians mobilize the creation and improvement of a specific set of Wikipedia articles that pertain to the lives and works of Black Artists. During the Wikipedia Edit-a-thon we will create, update, and improve Wikipedia articles pertaining to the lives and works of visual artists of underrepresented Black Artists. All are invited, with no specialized knowledge of the subject or Wikipedia editing experience required. A brief overview of the basics of Wikipedia editing and the Wikipedia community will be given at the start of the edit-a-thon.

BLT will also host our BLT Photobooth at Lawrence Public Library’s How-To event. Come have your photograph taken with our photographer. Portraits are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as a part of our continuing effort to visualize Black Artists on Wikipedia. Uploaded photos are available for use and download. See all of our BLT Photobooth Portraits!

Black Lunch Table (BLT) is a nonprofit organization and seventeen-year ongoing artist collaboration. BLT’s primary aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein cultural producers engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues. BLT mobilizes a democratic rewriting of contemporary cultural history by animating discourse around and among the people living it.

Follow this link to register for the event being held at the Lawrence Public Library on June 25th! LPL will have a reserve of 12 devices for those who do not have a laptop or tablet to participate.

Follow this link to see the event on the Lawrence Public Library’s website.