February 7, 1994

Contact: Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940

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Symposium on African-American Resources at the Library of Congress Scheduled for February 23

On February 23, two panels of distinguished scholars will discuss the Library of Congress's rich resources in African- American history and culture. From 2 to 3:30 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Garrow, John Fleming, director of the National Museum of Afro-American History in Wilberforce, Ohio, and Dorothy Porter Wesley, director emeritus of the Moorland Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, will discuss research they've conducted using the Library's collections. In the second session, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Thomas Cripps, film historian at Morgan State University, Jessie Carney Smith, a librarian at Fisk University, Josephine Wright, Professor of Music at Wooster College, and others will describe research opportunities in film, music and culture.

The Library's vast collection of African-American material includes first-hand accounts of the slave trade, records of the NAACP and other civil rights organizations, photographs from the U.S. News & World Report photo morgue, early silent films, unpublished recordings of jazz giant Duke Ellington, and thousands of other items on sports, religion, politics, and the arts.

Speakers at the symposium will describe how they have used these materials in their work and how other researchers can gain access to them as well.

This symposium marks the publication of The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture, edited by Debra Newman Ham of the Library's Manuscript Division. Beginning with bibliographies relating to slavery, and concluding with descriptions of television documentaries of the civil rights era, the resource guide reflects the full span of subjects and formats available in the Library's collections.

This symposium is being held in the Mumford Room (sixth floor) of the Madison Building at 101 Independence Ave., SE. and is free and open to the public. Attendees may also view an exhibition displaying a small sample of photographs, illustrations and text drawn from the Library's African-American collections in the Madison Foyer on the first floor. For more information about the symposium the public may call (202) 707-1517.

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PR 94-028
2/15/94
ISSN 0731-3527