Attending a Panel - Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Liberal Arts Tradition Symposium - Nia Gooden Class of 2029

 

    On October 9th, I was able to attend a panel during the Martin Luther King Jr. And the Black Liberal Arts Tradition symposium. The panel was titled “Unearthing the Black Liberal Arts Tradition in the Archives” and it featured Dr. Michelle Hite, Shaundra Walker, Dr. Aisha Johnson, and Holly Smith. This panel gave me a window into the important work being done by Black memory workers at HBCUs across the country both in the past and in the present. Dr. Hite started the panel off with an informative explanation of how archival research proves transformative for Black students. She spoke about the limits of current archival practices, particularly at PWIS where Black students are an afterthought. She mentioned this in order to demonstrate the benefit of the contrary, where HBCU libraries have Black students at the forefront of their mind and therefore are prepared with substantial archives of Black history. She concluded her section of the panel by highlighting the long history of Black collections of history and describing the importance of the second curriculum. I learned that the second curriculum is the supplementary education that professors at HBCUs provide their students with in an attempt to have them combat racism and lead racially conscious and empowered lives. During the Civil Rights Movement the professors attempted to reverse the damages of Jim Crow and encourage their students to keep fighting in the movement. 

    Next, Dr. Johnson spoke about the importance of increasing the diversity in the archivist field. She included the shocking figure that only 7% of librarians are Black. Dr. Johnson touched on the work done by Black female literary societies in the North, the closest semblance to effective archives during a time prior to library service to Black people. She highlighted the fact that libraries were built to be a luxury for everybody but consistently restricted Black people from gaining access. She described it as an emphasis on the “haves” and the “have nots” where giving free access meant giving the “have nots” access to information that would allow them to improve their status, something that people in power did not want happening. She then delved deeper into the dilemma of accreditation for HBCUS. HBCU graduates would seek employment where they were looking for degreed individuals and their degrees would not be considered accredited since their alma maters did not have accredited libraries. This proved yet again just how instrumental libraries are to institutions. To conclude her section of the panel, Dr. Johnson dispelled previous notions about the generosity of Andrew Carnegie in contrast to the positive works of Julius Rosenwald who spread the one room schoolhouses across the south and helped start the Hampton Institute Library School. 

    The last speaker on the panel, Holly Smith, spoke passionately about the libratory capabilities of the Black feminist archival practice. She even offered to send audience members articles behind paywalls if they wanted them, indicating her true dedication to her dedication to equitable access to information. Smith made the audience aware of the AUC digital repository RADAR, the Spelman archives, and the wide range of Black memory workers across the country.

   

    I gained a lot from attending this panel and walked away with a deeper appreciation for the work that librarians at HBCUs do. It prompted me to consider reaching out to the librarian for my major, Monya Tomlinson. I found the extensive history about the struggle for Black memory workers to have official spaces to properly archive information for Black students inspiring. I learned a lot about the history of Black memory workers, and I was thoroughly engaged by each of the panelists.

                                                                    By Nia Gooden