James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection

The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection (JWJ) documents and celebrates the cultural and artistic achievements and the intellectual and political activities of African Americans.

Black Spirituals as Poetry and Resistance (New York Times)
March 5, 2021
These songs — the oldest musical expressions of the slave experience in this country — still have a lot to teach us about how we think about death and dignity.
The Performance of Racial Passing (New York Times)
March 2, 2021
Though Nella Larsen’s classic 1929 novel is understood to be a tragedy, it also exposes race to be something of a farce.
The Literary Legacy Of Pauline Hopkins (WBUR)
February 12, 2021
Pauline Hopkins was a multitalented author, journalist and editor who pioneered horror, science fiction and fantasy writing at the turn of the 20th century. She wrote among the first (if not the first) theatrical drama and detective stories authored by a Black person, yet, her fiction does not have the same recognition as household names like Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” or Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” nor does her nonfiction have the same acclaim as W.E.B. Du Bois’.
This month, Frederick Douglass’s papers will be made available to the public. (LitHub)
February 11, 2021
Exciting news! The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is currently in the process of digitizing the Walter O. Evans Collection of Frederick Douglass and Douglass Family Papers. The collection will be fully digitized for public access by the end of February.
Beinecke to make Frederick Douglass and Douglass Family Papers collection available to the public (Yale Daily News)
February 10, 2021
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library recently acquired the Walter O. Evans Collection of Frederick Douglass and Douglass Family Papers, which document the life of orator, author, abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass. By the end of February, the Beinecke will have fully digitized this collection for public access.
Muslims in America: A forgotten history (Al Jazeera)
February 10, 2021
For more than 300 years, Muslims have influenced the story of the US – from the ‘founding fathers’ to blues music today.
Road Show at Beinecke Library
February 3, 2021
In spring 2021, the Yale Collection of American Literature at Beinecke Library and the Public Humanities Program will collaborate to present a graduate workshop focused on the Library’s exhibition, Road Show: Travel Papers in American Literature.
Biography Symposium 2021
February 1, 2021

REGISTER Wednesday February 24th, 12-1pm Langdon Hammer & Terrance Hayes Zoom Webinar Registration Information: https://bit.ly/38V8xz1 Thursday February...
Yale honors MLK throughout January (Yale Daily News)
January 20, 2021
he Beinecke library also celebrated MLK Day via Zoom by hosting a virtual talk on Monday with North Carolina State University professor Jason Miller on the intersections between Dr. King’s rhetoric and the writing of prominent African American poet Langston Hughes. “To be clear, Langston Hughes’ poetry hovers behind Dr. King’s metaphors like a watermark on bonded paper,” Miller told listeners during the event. “The poet that he [King] seemed drawn to most personally — that is, poems in which he personally sought out, rather than simply writing down when others spoke — includes the poetry of Langston Hughes, his wife Coretta’s favorite poet.” At the event, Miller presented several images from the Beinecke’s collection to more than 300 live participants at the webinar.
In Pieces: Lives of Literary Archives
January 3, 2021
Students and scholars often wonder about how literary archives take shape, their gaps and depths, their organization, structure. A wide range of factors may determine what happens to a writer's papers both during and after their lifetime.