Arts & Entertainment
Pepperdine Libraries Acquire Marion Thompson Wright Collection
Collection of Leading African-American Scholar Includes Langston Hughes' First Poetry Book and Other Major Harlem Renaissance Writers
The Pepperdine Libraries are pleased to announce the acquisition of the Marion Thompson Wright Collection. In 1940, Marion Thompson Wright became the first African American historian to receive a doctoral degree from Columbia University, subsequently embarking on an influential career in the fields of sociology and education. An accomplished scholar, Dr. Wright’s research was central to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision to desegregate schools in Brown vs. Board of Education.
The collection includes books, journals, and offprints that reflect Dr. Wright’s personal relationships with influential scholars, novelists, and poets who wrote about race relations and the black experience during the mid twentieth-century. Notable items in the collection include a signed copy of W.E.B. Du Bois’ autobiography, Dusk of Dawn; a first edition of Countee Cullen’s debut poetry collection, Color; first editions of three poetry collections by Langston Hughes; and a first edition of Richard Wright’s 1961 novel, Eight men.
Read more about the acquisition of the Marion Thompson Wright Collection on the Pepperdine Libraries website.
