Rare Book Museum Highlights African American Collection During Black History Month

Press release from Kennesaw State University:

Feb 22, 2021

Rare Book Museum Highlights African American Collection during Black History Month

KENNESAW, Ga.
(Feb 22, 2021) — Kennesaw State University’s Bentley Rare Book Museum celebrates literature and history year-round, and the disciplines will intersect
during Black History Month as the museum recognizes the contributions African American
writers have made to society.

Throughout February, JoyEllen Williams, special collections curator for the Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books, will be featuring works from the museum’s Harlem Renaissance collection, which includes
pieces written during the cultural explosion and revival of black art, literature
and music between WWI and WWII.

“Having these collections of books that were written, published, owned and annotated
by African Americans help us learn so much about the Black experience,” Williams said.

This month, Williams is hosting a program called Virtual Coffee with a Curator each Wednesday at 10 a.m., where she discusses a variety of topics related to rare
books.

“A lot of the period pieces of the Harlem Renaissance demonstrate a diverse perspective
of the Black experience during that time,” Williams said. “We have a really substantial
collection of Langston Hughes’ works with a lot of early and first editions, including
a book that is inscribed and signed by him. We also have a couple of first-edition
pieces by Zora Neale Hurston, and a variety of works by Nella Larsen, Countee Cullen
and Claude McKay, and a signed piece by James Weldon Johnson.”

Aside from the Harlem Renaissance collection, the museum also features a collection
of Civil Rights literature with some early and first-edition works by civil rights
icons including pieces signed by Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young and Rosa Parks.

To Williams, having the opportunity to showcase African American literature allows
people to understand the past Black American experience and frame the present and
future.

“These works are important to highlight because they enable us to hear about the African
American experience told through personal experiences,” Williams said.

The Bentley Rare Book Museum, a unit of the Department of Museums, Archives and Rare
Books, is Georgia’s first rare book museum and the state’s third-largest museum-grade
rare book collection.

– Josh Milton

Photos by Jason Getz

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A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers more than 150 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 41,000 students. With 11 colleges on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia and the second-largest university in the state. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the region and from 126 countries across the globe. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 6 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.

This press release was produced by Kennesaw State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.