Describe the characteristics of the Part II, #12: Moroccan Holiday (1997) in this artwork's Descriptions and locations.
Moroccan Holiday is the final work in the series and depicts Willia Marie and her daughter Marlena having a conversation in front of portraits of Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. In the text, Willia Marie tells Marlena that had she been born a man, she would have been a hero like the men portrayed. Marlena tells her mother that her Aunt Melissa is actually a hero, as she raised Marlena when Willia Marie left for France. Marlena vows to eventually raise her own children herself in addition to becoming an artist, though she does not end up marrying or having children in the narrative that continues in The American Collection. The title of Moroccan Holiday is derived from a trip that Ringgold took to find a location that felt emotionally resonant enough to serve as the backdrop of the conversation between Willia Marie and Marlena. Although Ringgold visited Morocco and considered it as a location, she settled on the portraits of noted African American activists as the background.Moroccan Holiday is in the collection of the Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, Florida.
Marcus Garvey Norton Museum of Art Malcolm X The American Collection Palm Beach, Florida Frederick Douglass Martin Luther King Jr.