Sybil Kein’s Transnational Louisiana Creole and Exchanges with Michel Fabre

Rachel Kirk is a PhD student in French Studies at Louisiana State University. She is interested in how colonial-shaped environmental changes and disasters have influenced literary and cultural production in Louisiana and the broader Francophone and Creole-speaking Caribbean. Rachel is a recipient of an African American History and Culture short term fellowship for visiting researchers.  Read More …

Operation SEEK: Finding New Pathways for Collegiate & Carceral Cross-Education in the Archive of artist Benny Andrews (1930-2006) 

Sinclair Spratley is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Art History & Archeology at Columbia University. She is the 2024 recipient of the Benny Andrews Award, which provides funding for researchers exploring the collection of visual artist, teacher, activist, critic, and writer Benny Andrews. I had the privilege of spending time in the vast Read More …

“More Is Gained Than Lost”: The Papers of Samella S. Lewis

Audrey Florey is a Ph.D. candidate in Visual Studies at the University of Missouri with an emphasis in American art history. Her dissertation examines the work of women artist-educators who dedicated their life to establishing and cultivating a diverse array of art programs within numerous cultural institutions across the United States. Beginning in the late Read More …

In Memoriam: Dr. Pellom McDaniels, III

  Dear Colleagues and Friends,  It is with endless sorrow that we share the news that Pellom McDaniels III, Curator of African American Collections, passed away suddenly, at home, on Sunday April 19, 2020. The depth of our grief at Pellom’s passing is matched only by our appreciation and admiration for the tremendous gifts and Read More …

Words are Power: Remembering the Storyteller Julius Lester

Among the thousands of authors found in the Stuart A. Rose Library, Julius Lester (1939-2018) is a giant. An essayist, writer, folklorist, civil rights activist, and teacher, Lester’s work has been an integral part of helping African Americans maintain the oral tradition of storytelling.  Through his creative explorations into the past, we are more aware Read More …

The J. Herman Blake Black Panther Party Collection: A Deep Reflection and Focus on Freedom

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party (BPP) for Self-Defense. Organized on October 15, 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, the BPP became a symbol of militant resistance towards “establishment politics” and the ongoing abuse of black people in America. What began as a Read More …

“Sweet Daddy” Grace Collection

Charles Manual Grace (also Marcelino Manuel da Graca) was born in the Cape Verde Islands in 1884. His family, like many Cape Verdeans, moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, around the turn of the century. Though most of the family was Roman Catholic, both he and his brother were influenced by the burgeoning holiness and pentecostal Read More …