Black History Month is here and students and staff members are doing a variety of things to display their black pride.
Coleman Library is celebrating Black History Month with its Special Collections section on the fourth floor. Special Collections contains fictional, non-fictional and historical books and paintings done by black artists.
Because of the library’s expansion, material from Special Collections can now be displayed elsewhere on the fourth floor. The newest display is the Heritage Room.
The Heritage Room is still a work in progress, but there are already items out for display. In glass cases, there are slave narratives dating back to the 1800s, a wooden model of the library’s expansion and a large collection of expensive books complete with lithographs.
University librarian Cornelia Taylor is one of the curators responsible for Special Collections and the Heritage Room.
“I try to collect everything in Special Collections,” Taylor said. “We also collect fiction books for leisure reading.”
One of the Heritage Room’s most prized possessions is a large copy of Zora Neale Hurston’s “Bookmarks in the Pages of Life.”
Some students like Katurah Jones, 21, doesn’t think the University focuses on Black History Month enough. The junior biology/pre-med student from Bell Glade said, “For this to be a black University, people should know more about black history.”
King McCaskill, a museum assistant in the Black Archives, agreed with Jones’ observation. He said most blacks do not take black history as serious as they should. However, he said blacks are becoming more aware.
“With people like Tom Joyner, Black History Month is becoming black history year,” McCaskill said. “We’re becoming infused into American history. (White America mentions) black people in June rather than just February.”
Contact Brandon Oliver at famuannews@hotmail.com.