African American Studies at Beinecke Library

Collections, events, and news from the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters.

Theorizing Racial Formations 2014
October 15, 2014
Resources for Professor Elizabeth Alexander’s Theorizing Racial Formations class (AFAM505), Fall 2014
Red Summer Archive
September 23, 2014
The collection includes correspondence, printed material, and reports documenting the response among African American activists to the race riots of the summer of 1919, including efforts to aid victims and defend arrestees in Chicago, Knoxville, and Elaine, Arkansas. Material relating to the Chicago branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is particularly well represented.
Cave Canem Foundation Records
September 9, 2014
Among the most important and influential African American Arts organizations, the Cave Canem Foundation was established in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady to “remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in Master of Fine Arts programs and writing workshops across the United States.”
Cornelius Eady Papers
September 9, 2014
The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library is excited to announce that it has acquired the literary archive of award-winning poet, dramatist, and literary activist Cornelius Eady.
Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady at Yale
August 29, 2014
In 1996, poets Cornelius Eady and Toi Derricote founded Cave Canem, a nonprofit organization serving black poets and acting as a safe space for intellectual engagement and critical debate.
In Memoriam: Ruby Dee
June 12, 2014
The James Weldon Johnson Collection of African American Arts and letters remembers actress, playwright, and activist Ruby Dee, 1922-2014.
In Memoriam
May 28, 2014
The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters honors poet Maya Angelou, 1928-2014.
New Scholarship: Julie Botnick on Dorothy Porter's Life and Work
May 23, 2014
In July 1968, as Howard University’s James M. Nabrit, Jr. stepped down from his role as president amid student protests, Dorothy Porter wrote to friends and colleagues to invite them to her workshop on the topic of “Bibliographic Resources for a Study of the American Negro.”
American Artists and the African American Book
April 21, 2014
Materials shown for Robert Stepto’s “American Artists and the African American Book,” AFAM 423, Spring 2014 class visits
YCAL-JWJ Service Disruptions: A Note from the Curators
March 12, 2014
As the Beinecke Library prepares for a major renovation in 2015, many frequently-consulted YCAL and JWJ archival collections will be moved off site to the Yale Library Shelving Facility (LSF).