A Map to Black Studies Collection

The Ernest J. Gaines Center is proud to present A Map to Black Studies, the new collection funded by the Guilbeau Charitable Trust Committee through the intercession of Dr. Theodore Foster. The collection aims to build a strong foundation for Black studies within the University's Library, and provide students with an opportunity to engage with its history, culture, politics, art, and more. Across 15 subsections, these books, films, and other multimedia audiovisual materials will be housed as a specific interdisciplinary Black studies collection in the Ernest J. Gaines Center at Edith Garland Dupre Library.

What started as a $36,000 investment has expanded into a $101,000 program dedicated to building a library collection centered around Black Studies over the course of three years.

"At its best, Black studies reflects an ongoing call for institutional, intellectual, and socio-political transformation since its emergence within universities across the country and formal academy in 1969... [Our] methodology and research for selecting a range of interdisiplinary titles in Black studies is a collaborative effort with librarian and director of the Ernest J. Gaines Center, Cheylon Woods. Books, film, visual art, music, dance, and oral tradition reflecting the diverse global diasporic experience of Black people form the basis of a crucial map to teaching, researching, and developing Black studies. We have consulted a range of examples of Black studies library collections and guides across universities and databases from the Schomburg Library and archive in NYC to the Oxford Bibliography listings in African American Studies to identify new and foundational text that should be available at UL." -- Dr. Foster