Harriet Tubman - During the Civil War
Harriet served as a scout, spy, guerrilla
soldier, and nurse for the Union Army.
She liberated over 700 slaves along
South Carolina’s Combahee River and
is considered the first African American
woman to serve in the military. She was
nicknamed “The Moses of Her People” for
liberating so many enslaved people by
way of a secret network of people, places,
and routes called “The Underground
Railroad.”
Harriet’s litebox is made from a laptop
computer box. A map of the Under-
ground Railroad sits below her photo.
The box is crowned with a saying she
famously used to motivate those she
she guided along their days-long journey
to freedom. The litebox is on exhibit
at Press & Grind until March 31,
2024.
Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist
and early civil rights leader. Wells was
posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize
for reporting on the pervasive violence
against African Americans during the era
of lynching. She placed her own safety
at great peril to raise awareness of the
horrors of life for blacks under Jim Crow.
She was also one of the founders of the
NAACP. Reportedly, Ida Wells stood
just under 5’ tall.
Ida’s litebox is made from a computer
laptop box. The portrait beautifully
captures her unwavering mindset. The
constellation of planets beneath her por-
trait represents her supernatural fidelity
and her crown represents her personal
dignity and devotion to her cause
and her people. The litebox is on
exhibit at Press & Grind until
March 31, 2024.
It’s impossible to overestimate Mom’s
illumination. My Mom was born at the
tail end of the Great Depression. As a
child, she ice skated on frozen ponds. As
as a teenager she Jived and Jitterbugged
in school auditoriums. She met my Dad
in church where his family sat a few pews
behind hers. She loved my Dad his whole
life and beyond. Mom was a crackerjack
with a sewing machine. I suspect that she
hemmed just about every pair of pants
I ever wore. Mom was no-nonsense and
with four kids she didn’t have much
time to dilly or dally. She tended to
her Gardenias and Butterfly bushes with
great devotion. She made-do with what
we had. She made every birthday special
and every Christmas sparkle. I carry her
glow inside of me. Every day. Every
where.
Mom was proud of her roots. So, map
pieces of Southern Michigan rim the
outside of her box. This is her Senior
Yearbook Photo from South Lyon High
School graduating class of1953.
This litebox is on exhibit at Press &
Grind until March 31, 2024.
Frida Kahlo survived polio at age 9 and
a serious streetcar accident at age 18.
She channeled her passion and pain
into nearly 200 paintings. The style
she developed mixed reality with surreal-
istic elements. Because of Kahlo’s
uncompromising depiction of the female
form and challenge of traditional gender
roles - Kahlo is regarded as an icon
for the feminist movement and the
LGBTQ+ community.
Frida’s litebox is made from a laptop
computer box. Her crown is a collage
including an image of a Mexican
peso that was likely in circulation during
her lifetime. This work attempts to
capture Frida’s unapologetic approach
to her life and art. The litebox is on
on exhibit at Press & Grind until
March 31, 2024.
Florence Nightingale said she experienced
a “calling” from a young age to help those
in great need. Florence received great
opposition from her high-society family
when she announced her desire to
become a nurse. At the time, nursing
was considered to be a lowly profession.
Despite their objection, Florence travelled
to Germany, then Paris to train as a nurse.
She served as a nurse in the Crimean War
where she radically improved the care and
conditions for the wounded. Nightingale
gave nursing a favorable reputation and
became an icon known as “The Lady with
the Lamp” for making rounds of wounded
soldiers at night, carrying a lamp to light
her way.
A copy of a handwritten note lies beneath
her portrait. Florence wrote letters fre-
quently arranging for supplies and advoca-
ting for the needs of her patients. Florence
wrote seminal books on Nursing.
The litebox is on exhibit at Press &
Grind until March 31, 2024.
.
Perhaps the most recognizable of these
icons, Rosa Parks, is best known for
refusing to vacate her seat on a city bus in
favor of a white passenger. Her act of civil
disobedience and the subsequent Mont-
gomery bus boycott became important
symbols of the Civil Rights Movement.
As a result of her act, Parks was fired from
her job as a seamstress and continued to
receive death threats for years afterwards.
Parks moved to Detroit where she con-
tinued to collaborate with leaders like
Martin Luther King, Jr. and work for the
NAACP.
Rosa’s litebox is made from a laptop
computer box. A roadmap of her home-
town of Montgomery (circa the time
of the bus boycott) lines the base of the
box. The quote exemplifies how each of
us, as Rosa did, can ignite something
special with a mere spark of courage.
The litebox is on exhibit at Press &
Grind until March 31, 2024.
Amelia Earhart, also a well-known icon,
is famous for being the first female to fly
across the Atlantic solo. Her parent's’ tur-
bulent marriage is said to have contributed
to Earhart’s feminist mindset. She swore
that one day she would be a completely
independent woman never having to rely
on a man for financial support. She
worked her way to that independence as a
nurse’s aide then later a social worker,
earning enough for flying lessons and a
yellow two-seat biplane that she named
“Canary.” Although Earhart did not
consider herself a feminist, she sought
equality in every aspect of her life, thereby
inspiring generations of women to do the
same.
Amelia’s litebox is made from a laptop
computer box. Copies of her final radio
transmission (July 2, 1937) line the box.
Her famous quote, representing her no-
nonsense mindset and tenacity, crowns the
box. The litebox on exhibit at Press &
Grind until March 31, 2024.
Lorraine Hansberry was the first
African-American female author to have a
play performed on Broadway. Her play,
“A Raisin in the Sun,” tells the story of a
black family’s experience of racism and
housing discrimination in south Chicago.
Hansberry was also a civil rights activist
who, along with James Baldwin, met with
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
urging him to make “a moral commit-
ment” to civil rights.
Hansberry inspired the Nina Simone song
“To Be Young, Gifted and Black”
whose title line came from a speech
she delivered in 1964. Hansberry
died of pancreatic cancer
at the age of 34.
Hansberry’s sun crown symbolizes
the name of her famous play. The
perimeter of the box is wrapped in
pieces of a street map of south Chicago
circa the time that Lorraine and her family
lived in that area.
The litebox is on exhibit at Press &
Grind until March 31, 2024.
Early in the 1800’s, long before it was
safe or socially acceptable to express any
variations of traditional gender norms or
sexual orientation, Anne lister was
courageously and unapologetically herself.
Lister wore what she wanted (usually dark
garments and a dapper top hat) and loved
who she wanted (women). She wrote
about her life as a landowner, traveler,
business woman, mountaineer, and lover
of women in secret code. Years later,
those private diaries were decoded
and turned into the BBC series “Gentle-
man Jack.” Top hats tipped to anyone who
like Lister, can withstand public scrutiny
and continue to march to the beat of her
own heart.
Anne’s exterior box is rimmed with
photo copies of her excerpts from her
diaries in coded handwriting.
This litebox is on exhibit at Press &
Grind until March 31, 2024.