Morris Raphael Cohen Library Archives
From August 30th through December 31st, 2010, the Cohen Library is thrilled to
present an exhibition on the prestigious Langston Hughes Festival and its medallion’s
recipients. This exhibition’s opening reception on Wednesday, September 15th, at 5:30pm
will feature welcoming remarks and a student choral performance of Hughes’ work,
which is free and open to the campus and community. During the semester, “A
Celebration of African American Writers” will display a fascinating range of documents
and memorabilia housed in the Archives and Special Collections Department on the 5th
floor of the City College’s Cohen Library.
The Langston Hughes Festival has sustained profound cultural value for
over three decades since its inception at City College, and with its amazing list of
award recipients. In 1977, the Festival’s launch honored the repatriation of James
Baldwin, one of Harlem’s most distinguished people of letters, to the United States.
Following Baldwin, other major literary figures graced these campus grounds to
receive the unique award. Toni Morrison was here. Ralph Ellison was here. Alice
Walker, Ishmael Reed, Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Octavia Butler—all were here!
The exhibition—“A Celebration of African American Writers”—signals to
our students that sharing stories is an honorable and worthy pursuit, particularly for
African Americans who may thirst for closer contact to, and greater awareness of, model
writers in their own pursuits in the fine art of writing. Moreover, the exhibition seeks
to reinvigorate the legacy of dynamic conferences that the Festival at one time annually
hosted with professors and students presenting scholarship on writing and literary
histories. With such events co-sponsored by the Division of Humanities and the English
Department, the Festival has for over 35 years directed men and women of high renown
and eminence from around the African Diaspora to the City College campus. Original
pamphlets and photographs of these conferences will be on view in the exhibition.
Principally sponsored by the Langston Hughes Festival, the Cohen Library
(headed by Dean Pamela Gillespie), and the Black Male Initiative (administered by
Dr. Claude Brathwaite), “A Celebration of African American Writers” also honors the
Langston Hughes Festival itself with the intent to re-inform the City College community
of this gem within its midst. This exhibition will inform newer campus arrivals of the
legacy of the Langston Hughes Festival. With its sharpened profile, the Festival will
continue to contribute to the bright luster that once again will be associated with The City
College of New York.
Faculty co-curators Professor William Gibbons (Reference Librarian) and English
Professor Gordon Thompson (current Director of the Festival) amassed the materials
for the exhibition from the resources saved during the tenure of the long-term founder
and Director, Professor Emeritus Raymond Patterson, as well as under its proceeding
distinguished Directors, including Professors Eugene Nesmith of the Theatre Department,
Jo-Ann Hamilton of English, and Victoria Chevalier.
Archivist Sydney Van Nort was critical in helping to catalogue this historic
material. With the assistance of Lecturer Daisy Dominguez, student curators Conor
Tomás Reed and Taqiyya Haden, the expert design work of Zita Szatmary and the
behind-the-scenes services of Joel Rudnick (Archivist Research Assistant) and
Samuel Sanchez (Office Assistant), The Langston Hughes Festival and Cohen
Library are delighted to bring this exhibition to the campus of City College.
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