SUSIE'S STEEL & SPIRIT (Co-curated by Black Art Today)

A Tribute to Susan T. King

She was called Susie as a child — a girl from Kilmarnock, Virginia, born July 13, 1924, who would grow into one of Baltimore's most extraordinary women.

After graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in 1942, young Susie stepped into a nation at war. She trained as an aircraft riveter and was hired by Eastern Aircraft in Baltimore County — one of the few African Americans, and fewer still as an actual riveter — helping to assemble the planes that flew in World War II. She stands among the women history now celebrates as Rosie the Riveters.

Driven to uplift herself and her family, Mrs. King attended Hampton University and earned degrees from Morgan State University and Coppin State University, entrenching a proud family HBCU tradition. She devoted her career to the Baltimore City Public Schools as a science teacher and guidance counselor — carrying the same determination from the factory floor into every classroom.

A Congressional Gold Medal recipient, a woman of deep faith and community, and now a centenarian whose legacy endures through scholarships in her name — Mrs. Susan T. King is, in every sense, a living legend.

This exhibition is a living tribute to a living woman. We celebrate her at 102.

Curated by Kibibi Ajanku & Black Art Today Foundation

Sponsored by Living Classrooms Foundation

Bearman Gallery | Frederick Douglass–Isaac Myers Museum

1417 Thames Street, Fells Point, Baltimore, MD 21231

July – September 2026