HOMECOMING AT AMISTAD: TED ELLIS NAMED REGISTRAR | CURATOR AT TULANE'S AMISTAD RESEARCH CENTER

Ted Ellis is now curator at the Amistad

Renowned artist and creative historian Ted T. Ellis has been appointed Registrar | Curator of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University — one of the most significant appointments in recent memory for the institution widely recognized as the world's largest independent archive dedicated to Black history.

This month’s appointment marks a powerful convergence of artistic legacy and institutional stewardship. Ellis brings to the role a distinguished career at the intersection of visual art, cultural advocacy, and museum leadership. Most recently, he served as Director of Florida State University's Civil Rights Institute — an institute dedicated to commemorating, celebrating, and studying the U.S. civil rights movement with a mission to promote justice, equality, and a better future for all. Prior to that appointment, Ellis served as the inaugural Museum Director at Southern University of New Orleans, where he led curatorial planning, community engagement programming, and student-driven initiatives.

Ellis holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Dillard University and a master’s in museum studies from Southern University in New Orleans.

At the forefront of Ellis's new tenure will be the curation and development of a major traveling exhibition of Jacob Lawrence's celebrated Toussaint L'Ouverture Series — a masterwork chronicling the Haitian revolutionary leader whose liberation struggle transformed the Atlantic world. The exhibition is slated for a groundbreaking international tour, with its first major stop: Paris, France — a fitting stage for a series whose subject challenged empire with unwavering conviction. Dates to be announced.  

The Amistad Research Center holds more than 400 works of African and African American art, including works by several internationally renowned 19th and 20th century African American masters — a collection Ellis now helps shepherd into a new era of global visibility.

His appointment signals not only a homecoming — the Amistad Research Center has long housed Ellis's work — but a bold new chapter for one of the country’s preeminent institutions.