With so much at stake on the Supreme Court, the exhibition explored the American judicial system through one of its sharpest legal minds. Coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of her appointment to the high court, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first-ever retrospective about the famed associate justice and American cultural icon.

Based upon the New York Times bestselling book of the same name, it was created in partnership with the book’s co-authors: journalist Irin Carmon, a senior correspondent at New York magazine, and attorney Shana Knizhnik, who founded the popular Tumblr that earned Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg internet fame (and amused the Justice herself). Like the book, the exhibition offered a visually rich, entertaining, yet rigorous look at RBG’s life and work. Through archival photographs and documents, contemporary art, media stations, and playful interactives, the exhibition told the parallel stories of RBG’s remarkable career and the efforts she joined to expand “We the People” to include those long left out of the Constitution’s promises. By bringing to life RBG’s compelling biography and her commitment to our nation’s highest ideals, the exhibition invited visitors to participate in civic life and consider how the future of the Supreme Court impacts us all.

Woven throughout the exhibition were briefs and other writings by RBG, including some of her most famously searing dissents. In keeping with the spirit of Carmon and Knizhnik’s book, the exhibition riffed off the playful connection between the Notorious RBG and Notorious B.I.G. (as she likes to point out, they were both born and bred in Brooklyn, New York): for example, the name of each gallery section alluded to a song or lyric from the late hip-hop artist.

TOUR SCHEDULE

National Museum of American Jewish History

Philadelphia, PA

October 2019–January 2020

Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center

Skokie, IL

February–June 2020

Additional venues may be announced.