Catch up on the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg at NMAJH

ByWendy Daughenbaugh WPVI logo
Sunday, November 24, 2019
6abc Loves the Arts Notorious RBG
6abc Loves the Arts- Notorious RBG: Karen Rogers reports on Action News at Noon, November 24, 2019

You've heard of Notorious B.I.G.? Well now you can see Notorious RBG.

It's a new exhibition at the National Museum of American Jewish History focused on the life and times of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Notorious RBG offers an inside look at Ruth Bader Ginsburg's personal and professional life.

"Justice Ginsburg has been a trailblazer in America," says the museum's chief curator Josh Perelman.

The exhibition title is based on a New York Times best-selling book of the same name, and it's an obvious play on the rapper Biggie Smalls.

"RBG likes to say that she gets it because they're both from Brooklyn," Perelman says," I like to say that they are two people who have both stood for educating society about the challenges people face."

As you move through the exhibition, you will see sections of her life tagged with graffiti.

"The graffiti refers to Biggie lyrics," Perelman says, "it's this kind of great mash up between, let's say, two great Brooklynites."

Visitors will start, Perelman says, where Ginsburg did, "in Brooklyn, where she grew up and travels through New York and Boston where she attended Harvard for law school."

It also examines her roles as wife and mother.

"Then throughout the rest of her career that brought her to the ACLU, and then to the Supreme Court," Perelman says.

Her story is woven together using home movies, historical photographs, personal items and documents, as well as information on her most famous cases.

"It's a very lovely kind of insight into the human being behind the black robe so to speak," Perelman says.

There's contemporary art as well, demonstrating Ginsburg's status as a pop culture icon.

"Justice Ginsburg has stood for the expansion of equality and rights to people of all genders and all backgrounds in this country," Perelman says. "I also hope that people leave the exhibition feeling inspired."

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg |NMAJH | Facebook

Through January 12

National Museum of American Jewish History

101 S Independence Mall E, Philadelphia, PA 19106