Earlier this year the Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) selected Huntsville native Chantal Drake as their newest Deputy Director.

Drake is a UAB graduate and previously told AL.com’s Shauna Stuart that her love for what she does started right here in Birmingham.

After spending some time at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis as their director of communications and strategic engagement Drake has now returned to the place where it all began and will be the first person of color to serve in a directorial position at the BMA.

Drake said looking back at the days of Jim Crow laws to where she stands now is a sign of how far the BMA has come and how far it will continue to go.

Until 1963 people of color were confined to visit the BMA exclusively on “Colored Only” Tuesdays as part of Jim Crow segregation laws.