Recognizing Four Decades of Recovery, Preservation, Programming, and Community
Since 1983, the History of Black Writing (HBW) has been dedicated to the study of the Black book, specifically the novel. During these 40 years HBW has committed its efforts toward literary recovery, digital preservation and access, and innovative programming, and today it is regarded as a supportive intellectual community for matriculating students as well as scholars and professionals invested in African American literature and culture. The center and its archives were founded at the University of Mississippi, moved to the University of Kansas in 1998, and has been located at Indiana University Bloomington since 2024. At these institutional homes HBW has promoted collaboration at all levels of higher education and related professional research practices. Its ongoing mission is to foster dialogues about the past, present, and future of Black writing to help sustain the reading, study, and teaching of this work. The center and its archives also aim to generate new knowledge meaningful for understanding and affirming Black culture and life.
HBW kicked off its 40th anniversary celebration with a plenary session at the January 2023 Modern Language Association (MLA) convention in San Francisco, California followed by a forum and reception with the authors of recent Black biographies at the April meeting of the College Language Association (CLA) convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
The celebration continued with Black Writing, an art exhibit curated in collaboration with the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas. The exhibit was open from August 19, 2023 through January 7, 2024. Black Writing featured artworks and multimedia by contemporary artists that incorporate literature, lyrics, family lore, and reading as well as a reading room and interactive stations where visitors explored the history of HBW and its work in the digital humanities.