Black collections news
ASU archivists hoping to learn more about early African American students
The eyes grab you first. They stare at you from the black-and-white photo, soft and, it seems, inquisitive. Zoom out, and you notice the man’s appearance. Well-dressed in a suit jacket, a white dress shirt and a tie that is knotted perfectly. His hair is short. His name is Benton James and, in 1924,...
ASU honors Black Speculative Fiction Month with a multimedia exhibit at Hayden Library
What does the film “Black Panther” have in common with an exhibit that just opened at Arizona State University’s Hayden Library? Like the 2018 blockbuster, the multimedia exhibit focuses on the genre known as Black Speculative Fiction. “Griots and Galaxies: Unveiling the Multiverse of Black Speculat...
ASU Library celebrates Black Speculative Fiction with new exhibit and featured collection
In celebration of Black Speculative Fiction Month in October, the ASU Library and Center for Science and the Imagination launch “Griots and Galaxies: Unveiling the Multiverse of Black Speculative Fiction,” a new exhibit at Hayden Library on ASU’s Tempe campus. The exhibit centers on the four primary...
ASU Library exhibit honors work of former ASU art professor
In September 2019, Shannon Walker got a phone call from two faculty members in the Arizona State University Art Building. They told Walker there were boxes collecting dust in a storage area, and asked if she wanted to come over and look at what was inside the boxes before they cleared the room out....
Contribute to the preservation of Black history and stories in Arizona
Jessica Salow, assistant archivist of Black Collections More than a decade ago, the Arizona Archives Matrix Project showed that Arizona’s Latino, Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and LGBTQ communities have long been ex...
Photo album sparks discovery of ASU's first female African American graduate
Michele Neptune McHenry and her husband, Joseph McHenry, were slowly making their way through the photo album when they came upon the photos and name card. The card, gray in tone, was about 1-by-2 inches. On it was a name: Miss Stella McHenry....
Black Collections are Essential to the Learning Community - Rashida Scott Blades
Arizona State University (ASU) has over 559,300 alumni and has educated thousands more through certificate programs. With the continuous expansion of ASU, thousands more will be educated and have access to the library resources that ASU offers. This means that there has not been a Black Collection i...
The J. Eugene Grigsby Jr. Papers
The J. Eugene Grigsby Jr. Papers, which document the life and career of this prominent and influential Black artist and scholar, provide an exciting addition to ASU’s growing collection of primary source materials representing the rich history of the Black community in Central Arizona. ...