Cromwell Day

A graduate of Columbia University with a B.A. in comparative ethnic studies, Tourmaline’s academic journey was heavily concentrated in African American studies, which has profoundly influenced her work. Her early career as an organizer for Queers for Economic Justice and later, Critical Resistance, helped forge her path as a powerful voice in the fight against the prison-industrial complex and for LGBTQIA+ rights. These experiences also shaped her approach to filmmaking, leading to poignant works that engage with the lives and legacies of notable figures like Marsha P. Johnson and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

Though she had no formal film training, Tourmaline credits her time as an assistant to Dee Rees on the film Mudbound as a pivotal educational experience that honed her skills in storytelling and visual communication. Her films not only celebrate the spirit of her characters but also challenge viewers to reconsider the past and its impact on contemporary social contexts.

Her profound impact on both art and activism has been recognized widely; she is a TIME 100 honoree, a 2024 Blackstar Film Festival Luminary awardee, and a Guggenheim Fellow.

Tourmaline’s contributions to the arts have been recognized and showcased in prestigious institutions worldwide, including The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Tate Modern, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. Her works are held in the permanent collections of major museums such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Tate, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art.

Currently, Tourmaline’s solo exhibition “Video Room: Tourmaline” is on view at MASP in São Paulo. She is also featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial and has ongoing exhibitions at MASS MoCA and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Afrofuturist period room, where her explorations into Afrofuturism continue to inspire audiences.

Her biography of Marsha P Johnson published by Penguin Random House and Tiny Reparations comes out in spring of 2025.

After graduating from the Miner Normal School, Otelia Cromwell taught in the Washington, D.C., public schools for several years. She transferred to Smith College in 1898 and graduated in 1900. She returned to teaching for a number of years and then resumed her education, receiving a master of arts from Columbia University and a doctorate from Yale University in 1926; Cromwell was the first African American woman to receive a Yale doctorate. She soon became professor and chair of the department of English language and literature at Miner Teachers College in Washington, D.C.

Cromwell remained at Miner Teachers College until her retirement in 1944. A distinguished scholar and teacher, she authored three books and numerous articles including Readings From Negro Authors, for Schools and Colleges, the result of collaboration with Eva B. Dykes and Lorenzo Dow Turner. It was one of the first collections of its kind. She received an honorary degree from Smith College in 1950.

After her retirement from teaching, Cromwell accomplished her most significant scholarly work, The Life of Lucretia Mott, the Quaker abolitionist and women's rights activist. It was published in 1958 by Harvard University Press and continues to be cited by contemporary scholars. Cromwell passed away in 1972 at the age of 98.

Adelaide Cromwell was also a leader and activist in Africa, convening the first conference of West African social workers in Ghana in 1960, and serving on a commission to assess the state of higher education in what was then called the Belgian Congo. A member of the executive council of the American Society of African Culture, the American Negro Leadership Conference in Africa and the advisory council on Voluntary Foreign Aid, among others, she also maintained active membership in the Council on Foreign Relations and a number of professional organizations.

She is the author of several books, including Unveiled Voices, Unvarnished Memories: The Cromwell Family and Slavery and Segregation, 1692–1972, and An African Victorian Feminist: The Life and Times of Adelaide Smith Casely Hayford, 1868–1960.

Cromwell earned a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate in sociology from Radcliffe College. A recipient of the Smith Medal in 1971 and an honorary degree in 2015, she was the niece of Otelia Cromwell, class of 1900. Adelaide Cromwell passed away in 2019 at the age of 99.