Image by Temoco - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Join Yale University Library in partnership with MIT Libraries the week of February 22 - 26 for the BIPOC in the Built Virtual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Learn more about this campaign begun by MIT in 2020 and get editing to create and improve pages for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the fields of art, architecture, art history, graphic design, activism, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, dance, and more.
No experience or deep content knowledge required! There will be Wikipedia editing training opportunities and the Yale and MIT libraries will help you find quality resources for research.
Come for any or all of the events throughout the week - just be sure to register! Daily schedule and RSVP links can be found here.
February 1, 2021 marks 45 years of monthlong celebrations of and critical attention to African American culture, heritage, and experience in the United States. Explore some of our favorite Black artists, movers, and shakers from the the fields of visual arts and design, architecture, and drama. Most of the materials below are available online (don't forget to authenticate with your NetID!).
For more eye-popping visuals and new arrivals to the physical collection, check out our Instagram @yalehaasartslib all month long.
March by
This graphic novel trilogy is a first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis' lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Congressman Lewis passed away in July 2020.
30 Americans: Rubell Family Collection by
"...The Rubell Collection has been able to boast a particularly fine range of African-American art. Recent New York exhibitions...inspired the Rubell family to mount an exhibition of their holdings in this area, reproduced here in 30 Americans. With a late addition to this exhibition, there are in fact 31 artists."
To Describe a Life: Essays at the Intersection of Art and Race Terror by
"For English, the consideration of art is a paradigm of social life, because art is something we must share. Powerful, challenging, and timely, To Describe a Life is an invitation to rethink what life in ongoing crisis is and can be--and, indeed, to discover how art can help."
Among Others: Blackness at MoMA by
"This expansive collection of essays on nearly 200 works in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art is the first substantial exploration of MoMA's uneven historical relationship with black artists, black audiences and the broader subject of racial blackness. By addressing these subjects through the consideration of works produced either by black artists or in response to race-related subjects, Among Others confronts two kinds of truth: one plainly factual and informative, the other moral. It is equal parts historical investigation and truth-telling about the Museum's role in the history of the cultural politics of race."
Jordan Casteel: Within Reach by
Published for Jordan Casteel's major New Museum show, Within Reach surveys her paintings exploring the nuances of Black subjectivity In her large-scale oil paintings, New York-based artist Jordan Casteel (born 1989) takes up questions of Black subjectivity and representation by examining the gestures, spaces and forms of nonverbal communication that underpin portraiture.
Transforming Hate: An Artist’s Book by
Excerpt from the foreword:
In Transforming Hate: An Artist’s Book, I was trying to look at what it was like for me to turn the hateful words of the white supremacist books into a beautiful art object. That exploration helped me understand more fully the many levels of oppression and violence at the intersections of race, gender, class and sexual orientation. Why do we keep each other from being who we really are? How can we begin to talk about what separates us?
The Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on Race, Space, Architecture, and Music by
Working to understand how ideologies are formed, transmitted, and embedded in the built environment, Wilkins deconstructs how the marginalization of African Americans is authorized within the field of architecture. He then outlines how activist forms of expression shape and sustain communities, fashioning an architectural theory around the site of environmental conflict constructed by hip-hop culture.
Black Built: History and Architecture in the Black Community by
While Black architects produce extraordinary works, they account for only two percent of the profession in the United States. Many of their works exist in the Black community and have helped preserve and restore history and culture. Though architecture is often not associated with Black Culture, it is an integral aspect in defining a community and requires careful consideration of design, context, and resident relationships. This book explores over forty works by Black architects and their impact in the Black community.
Julian Abele: Architect and the Beaux Arts by
Julian Abele, Architect and the Beaux Arts uncovers the life of one of the first beaux arts trained African American architects. Overcoming racial segregation at the beginning of the twentieth century, Abele received his architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. Wilson traces Abele's progress as he went on to become the most formally educated architect in America at that time. Abele later contributed to the architectural history of America by designing over 200 buildings throughout his career...
Master Builders: Featuring African American Architects in the Nation's Capital by
Washington, D.C. is a tourist attraction, a place of monuments and landmarks, and the seat of the federal government. There are accredited schools of architecture at Howard University, the Catholic University of America and an architectural technology program at the University of the District of Columbia. D.C. is home to numerous buildings designed by pioneering African American Architects. Some of the architects featured in this documentary include: Julian Abele, Calvin T.S. Brent, Eliz Brooks, and Albert I. Cassell.
Black Drama (Third Edition)
"Black Drama contains plays from the mid-1800s to the present by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Some plays are published here for the first time, including a number by major authors. The plays themselves have been selected using leading bibliographies and with the editorial advice of James V. Hatch, co-author with Errol G. Hill of A History of African American Theatre and a leading expert in this area."
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by
Read the Yale grad's play that is now a hugely popular Netflix film! Winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. The time is 1927. The place is a run-down recording studio in Chicago. Ma Rainey, the legendary blues singer, is due to arrive with her entourage to cut new sides of old favorites. It is a riveting portrayal of black rage, of racism, of the self-hate that racism breeds, and of racial exploitation.
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand by
Explore the life and legacy of August Wilson, the playwright some call America's Shakespeare, who chronicled the 20th-century black experience. Features James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Laurence Fishburne, Viola Davis, new dramatic readings and rare footage.
Crumbs from the Table of Joy by
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring: Deidrie Henry as Ernestine Crump; Russell Hornsby as Godfrey Crump; Tinashe Kajese as Ermina Crump; Kate Steele as Gerte; Charlayne Woodard as Lily Ann Green. Directed by Seret Scott. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
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