During Black History Month, students of The Black Student Union do not want people to focus only on what is in the past. Instead, Black Student Union Communications Director KT Turner has decided to shift the focus toward the present and what will come of it with her theme, “The Future of Black History.”
“Black Future Month” is written in big bold letters on a whiteboard that also features a quote from Amanda Gorman and a few flyers. This whiteboard is just the backdrop for the lineup of books on display that were each carefully chosen by the people involved.
“We wanted to focus on the future and where things are headed as well as multiple disciplines like the arts, the science…anything that we could really put our hands-on,” Turner said. “This display contains any and everything from literature to physics to theater to music.”
One specific element of the display has personal significance to The Black Student Union Vice President Princess Kannah—the Kente cloth.
This article originated in Ghana as a textile practice that symbolizes “cultural affiliations.” Kannah said each color has its own meaning, black is spiritual strength, maturity, mourning and funeral rites. Red symbolizes blood death, political passion and strength. Blue is peace, love, unity and harmony. Gold/yellow symbolizes wealth and royalty. Green is growth, harvest and renewal, White is purity, cleansing rites and festive occasions and purple/maroon are for Mother Earth, healing and protection from evil.
“When I moved to Moscow last fall to attend the university I brought with me my mother’s Kente cloth that came from her mother as a form of comfort,” Kannah said. “And when we were looking for Kente cloth to put in the display I knew I had to volunteer mine. Now it’s on display in the library for all to see.”
These collaborative displays are a project of Access Services Librarian Shelley Carr, who is a co-chair for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Internal Library and has worked for the University of Idaho for about seven months now. Carr had these monthly displays at her former library and decided to bring them to UI as an outlet for her passion for diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.
“The black experience is not monolithic so I wanted to have a lot of different materials,” Carr said. “I’ve got fiction, I’ve got non-fiction, I’ve got some historical materials, contemporary materials, art, musicians…I’ve got funny children’s books.”
Each of the students had a say in what was put on display and there were noteworthy pieces of African American literature to choose from that not all could be featured directly.
“There’s a lot of books that I do recommend people to read as they carry a lot of knowledge that is beneficial to have and appreciate and just know on those topics,” President of the Black Student Union, Alphonse Crittenden said. “We stopped early too. There were even more that they were looking into putting up.”
Crittenden was unsure if his own favorite book “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” the autobiography of Malcolm X made it in the display. After checking the extensive and inclusive list, he noted that it should be there or on its way.
The display is up throughout March and all people involved encourage students to check out the display, both physically and literally as all the display books are available to check out from the library.
Paige Fiske can be reached at [email protected].