home Events and Exhibits, Staff news 2018 Black History Month at Mizzou

2018 Black History Month at Mizzou

This year’s Black History Month theme is “War, Peace & Black Progress.” The University Libraries are proud to sponsor the following exhibit and event.

 

Feb 5 – Feb 28 Exhibit: War, Peace and Black Progress

Images on display at Ellis Library from the State Historical Society of Missouri and the University of Missouri Libraries. Sponsors: University Libraries and Missouri State Historical Society.

Join local celebrities at the Columbia Public Library for a fun and competitive evening of history, culture and prizes. Sponsors: BHM Committee; Columbia Honda; Daniel Boone Regional Library; University Libraries; Paramount Marketing Group.

 

Check out missouri.edu/blackhistory/ for information about all of the events happening this month.

 

home Events and Exhibits, Staff news Registration Is Open: Fourth Annual Black History and Culture Trivia Night

Registration Is Open: Fourth Annual Black History and Culture Trivia Night

Since 2015, the University of Missouri Libraries and the MU Black History Month Planning Committee have hosted Black History Trivia Night on the last day of the culture-packed month of February. This year, for the first time, the event has co-sponsors that will make it a true “town/gown” event spotlighting local minority-owned businesses. Black History and Culture Trivia Night 2018 will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday February 28 in the Friends Room at Columbia Public Library.  Extra-special prizes for the winning and second place teams are being donated by corporate sponsors Columbia Honda and Parmount Marketing Group. Dr. Cyntha Frisby of the MU School of Journalism and longtime local columnist Bill Clark will share “celebrity emcee” honors.

Participation in Trivia Night is free; maximum team size is five players. On the registration form, players are given a choice of local business owners for whom they’d like to play, or if they wish, they may register a team of five and name their own captain. A light supper will be served before the game begins, which will allow for plenty of time for mingling among and across teams, as all participants enjoy a fun and competitive evening full of heroic feats of memory, entertaining multimedia questions, and many chances to acquire new knowledge.

Registration is online at library.missouri.edu/trivia by phone at 573-443-3161 (Columbia Public Library), 573-642-7261 (Callaway County Public Library) or 573-657-7378 (Southern Boone County Public Library).

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson

God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson

This month's final post in our series celebrating African-American artists and writers brings together two greats of the Harlem Renaissance: James Weldon Johnson and Aaron Douglas.  Johnson was multi-talented: an educator, writer, attorney and musician, he was the author of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," a leader of the NAACP, and the first African-American professor at New York University.  God's Trombones is considered one of his most important works.  Douglas was one of the leading artists of the Harlem Renaissance.  He developed a distinctive style that blended modernism with African influences and was highly influential in the development of later African-American artists.

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home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives The Black Christ by Countee Cullen with illustrations by Charles Cullen

The Black Christ by Countee Cullen with illustrations by Charles Cullen

This post is the third in our series highlighting the work of African-American artists and authors in Special Collections.  Countee Cullen was one of the leading poets and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.  This book of poetry, published at the height of his career, examines the relationships between faith and injustice.  Cullen draws parallels between the suffering of the crucified Christ and the suffering of African Americans in the climate of racial violence that characterized the 1920s. The copy in Special Collections is inscribed by Cullen to Frank Luther Mott, who was Dean of the School of Journalism from 1942 to 1951.

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home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives King’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail with Prints by Faith Ringgold

King’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail with Prints by Faith Ringgold

This week we're highlighting Faith Ringgold's illustrations for Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.  Produced in 2007 for the Limited Editions Club, the book contains eight original serigraphs by Ringgold alongside a beautifully printed text by King. Special Collections has copies 119 and 132 from an edition of 400.

Title page and frontispiece

Faith Ringgold illustration from Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King

Faith Ringgold illustration from Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King

Faith Ringgold illustration from Letter from Birmingham City Jail by Martin Luther King

home Resources and Services, Special Collections and Archives The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden

The Caribbean Poetry of Derek Walcott and the Art of Romare Bearden

In honor of Black History Month, we're highlighting the work of African-American artists and authors in Special Collections.  Artist Romare Bearden and poet Derek Walcott participated in this beautiful collaboration for the Limited Editions Club in 1983.  We've selected a few of our favorite images to share here, including the gorgeous decorated cloth binding, which is the first image below.

Cover

Title page

Romare Bearden illustration

Derek Walcott poem

Romare Bearden illustration

Romare Bearden illustration

Romare Bearden illustration

Romare Bearden illustration

Colphon.  We have #257, signed by the author and illustrator.

Find it in the MERLIN catalog