Faith Ringgold: American People opened at the New Museum on February 17, 2022. The museum's own exhibition data gives the start date as 2022-02-17 and describes the show as the most comprehensive assessment to date of Ringgold's vision, bringing together more than fifty years of work. Installed across the second, third, and fourth floors, it foregrounded her paintings, soft sculptures, story quilts, writing, and activism, including major works from the American People and French Collection series. Contemporary coverage emphasized that the retrospective reunited key quilt cycles and murals while situating Ringgold's civil-rights-era imagery, feminist critique, and challenge to art-versus-craft hierarchies within the broader history of American art.
The retrospective significantly strengthened Ringgold's position within the canon of postwar American art.
