Come by the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library to see our latest exhibition “…at the crossroads on the path of liberation”: Changemakers in the Africa Diaspora on display now through mid-March.
This collection of material from our archives invites the University of Maryland community to explore some of the revolutionary and transformative literature in our collections created by changemakers throughout the African diaspora who challenged an oppressive status quo. Through both words and actions, these individuals changed the way people thought about race and class. These works present ideas that push us to take a more critical look at our culture, politics and systemic racism. Some of these authors will be known to you and some might be new. We encourage you to visit and to learn more about these changemakers.
Much of the material in this exhibition was found in our African-American and African Pamphlet collection which consists of 20th century materials on African, African-American, and Caribbean culture and literature. The collection spans almost 75 years, although the majority of the pamphlets date from the 1960s and 1970s. The pamphlets are in multiple languages, including English, French, and a variety of African languages, such as Swahili, Tsonga, Tswana and Xhosa.
Exhibition hours are Monday – Thursday 10am-4pm.
A big thank you to Kelsey Coleman, president of the UMD chapter of the NAACP, for her contributions to the item selection and writing of this exhibition. We are so grateful for her partnership, time, thoughtfulness, and intelligence.
This post will be first in a series to share the works featured in this exhibition. Look for future posts about “Changemakers in the Africa Diaspora” in the coming weeks.
Special Collections & University Archives 