BALTIMORE — It’s a showcase that celebrates black men in a positive light, who are working to make change in their communities and those who can look stylish while doing it.
Jermaine Gibbs, a philanthropist and photographer, wanted to make that vision come to life for all to see. His idea was to use some of the change makers of today to honor Black History past and present.
“When we think about Black History month, we often think about those who came before us, [but] rarely do we bring to mind the men of color who are amongst us right here in our communities,” Gibbs said. It’s the thought behind his “Suited in Black History” social media campaign that he launched and carried out all through the month of February.
The men who were handpicked hail from Baltimore along with other cities in the DMV along with New York and other major cities along the eastern seaboard.
Each day 28 different men were featured through the lens of Gibbs and business partner and creative director, Rock Mitchell, while answering the question: “How are you making black history?”
As people walked by one of their photoshoots in progress, near Baltimore’s Washington Monument, Gibbs was asked what he saw in the men he chose.
“I see change agents,” Gibbs said. “I see potential future presidents; I see CEOs of multi-million-dollar companies.”
“We are not a monolith,” Mitchell added. “I think this campaign was able to show individually that each one of those men had something completely different going on, their impact in the community, their sense of style is different and what they believe black history to be.”
We spoke to several of the men, who were selected for this campaign, and had them answer another question: Why does image matter and how much weight does it carry?
“It’s everything,” fashion and style consultant, Ryan Lucas said. “The reality is there’s a lot of instances where you’re just walking, and you don’t have the opportunity speak for yourself, your outfit does the talking.”
Gibbs and Mitchell are both a part of Black Menswear, a digital platform that’s aim is to create “culture-shifting viral content.” The traveling collective first gained a massive following on social media after its Black Menswear Flash Mob series became known for presenting positive imagery of black men in large numbers all over the country. It also produced numerous business partnerships, mentor groups and another lane for entrepreneurs to network. The now multi-faceted organization draws inspiration from the strategies of Fredrick Douglass and how he fought against racist imagery.
After seeing how this impacted other cities, Gibbs and Mitchell thought they would bring some of these concepts back to their hometown of Baltimore.
“This is very much a connection,” Baltimore Pastor, Aaron Hanna, said. “These are kings of different regards of motion, culture [and] hue. We’re all black men but collectively we’re showing this fabric.”
They intentionally chose a historic scene provided by the Mount Vernon neighborhood which made it easy to zero in on the theme and take a trip back in time to the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
For Dexter Greene, it's a chance to pay homage to his own personal hero.
“I represented my dad as a part of that history by wearing a suit that was his during the 1950s,” he said. “He was the inspiration for my sense of style and how I like to represent myself. All I could think about was if I’m going to be in history I want my dad right there with me.”
Not many of the men in attendance have quite the experience with the impact a suit can have more than Irv Wright. Affectionately nicknamed “The Godfather” Wright was a custom clothier for more than four decades.
“A suit is a wonderful thing to put on if you understand it,” he said. “It increases your inner confidence. When you put a young man in a suit who’s never had a suit before and I’ve encountered this hundreds and hundreds of times in my career, When they look in the mirror and they see what they’ve never seen before you see it in their eyes it lights up. It lights the room up.”
Jermaine believes nobody needs a change of scenery more than young black men.
“The climate we’re currently in, in Baltimore is you turn on the tv and you just keep seeing murders and they’re starting to be younger and younger,” he said.
Some of the men here come from the neighborhoods that have been torn apart by violence.
“Baltimore is home,” Justin Shaw said. “Baltimore is where I was raised, Baltimore is where I’ve seen everything from the good, the bad and the ugly and to see the best of Baltimore be uplifted on a platform like this it just empowered me to know that there’s more out there that we can do to give this same image out to the world.”
Stephen Lawrence remembers being part of the problem as a youth. Now he's trying to help heal what's been broken. People who knew him back when he used to get in trouble, can see the change in him through his actions with his nonprofit and his church. However, he says they can also tell because he carries himself in a new way.
“[They can tell] that there is something different about me,” Lawrence explained. “I dress different. I walk different. I look different. I talk different.”
What may be even more important about this campaign, is the conversations and the networking it’s creating between business owners, entrepreneurs, mentors and leaders. These are the voices they hope will continue to grow this movement in hopes of helping Baltimore overcome some major issues.
“We build a community that’s bigger than Baltimore’s murder rate,” Mitchell said. “We build a community that’s bigger than whatever’s going on with the school system. We build a community that’s bigger than politics. We build a community where people care about each other, they love each other and they’re going to support each other and I think that’s what the suited in black history is we want to remember where we came from, but we want to take it one step further by being our best selves now.
From the talks to the tailored threads, the audience can see it through the eyes of master storytellers.
“I was expecting them to be great and they surpassed what I thought would happen.”
For Gibbs and Mitchell, the rolling out of this project proved at least one thing.
“If you put a standard out for black men, we’re going to reach that standard every time.” Mitchell said.
Gibbs hopes this effort eventually turns into a summit and the project grows strong enough to take all over the world. For more information on any future projects and how you can get involved reach out to Jermaine Gibbs on social media.
Instagram: j_uniqueeye__
Facebook:Jermaine Gibbs (Visual Storyteller)
