In one corner of the brand new Whitney! exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum Experience at Newark’s Prudential Center, there is an alcove with a large video screen.

The walls on either side are adorned with ceiling to floor photographs of a vibrant, in-her-prime Whitney Houston. During a preview event, days before the official opening, several young girls, students at the East Orange elementary school which bears her name, sat on a row of benches, watching the screen intently.

There, in all her glory, an enthralling Whitney Houston in an elegant white bespeckled gown, ending her performance at the 1989 GRAMMYs, belting out the final crescendo of “A Moment In Time.”

“I will be…” she sings forcefully, arms outstretched, voice lifting to the heavens.

“I will be free.”

A powerful performance. A powerful statement. A powerful moment in time.

To these young girls who spend every school day embraced by Whitney Houston’s name and spirit, this was more than a celebration of a late entertainer, but a heart-tugging moment of pride-inspiring “black girl magic” at a time when such representation matters perhaps more than ever.

The exhibit, which opened at the GRAMMY Museum Experience at Prudential Center on Friday, October 19, 2018, is a touching and beautifully designed tribute to Houston, a Newark native, who passed away on February 11, 2012.