Notes from the Basileus

Our Librarian, Ms. Taylor Brooks, from the Douglass-Truth Library has been working on an exhibit that would feature prints contained within our African American Collection. She has worked to have the exhibit showcased at the Central Library of SPL in downtown Seattle during the months of July and August.

The kickoff event will be held on July 13th from 6pm-8pm. This is one of the fabulous ways in which DUO can kick off our Jubilee Year of Celebrations. We want to show up at the Exhibit which will primarily feature works donated by Sorors and curated by Sorors from the community. Sorors, we do not want the public to show up to an event featuring and honoring our chapter in greater numbers of attendance than us. This is our Year of Jubilee! Let’s mark our calendars now and invite every Soror in the PNW close enough to attend – so we can represent our Chapter, Delta Upsilon Omega and Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc. in full pink and green splendor!

Ms. Brooks is also asking me to put a call out for any photographs or ephemera that members of our Chapter would like to have included in the exhibit – they would love to have them! If you have pictures or items, please contact Soror Crystal Tolbert Bell or Soror Shontrana Gates-Wertman and we will work with you to collect them and have them added.

The print works of the exhibit will return to their home at the Douglass-Truth Library, where the DUO Archives and History Committee will have the opportunity to showcase them once again for Sorors and the Community as a part of our Annual Library Tea. This year’s Tea will return to “in-person” this year; and in honor of our Jubilee Year, will be celebrated in true “tea-time style” (more information will be shared later this summer). The Tea, which is held the last Sunday in September, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 24th.

This is the information Ms. Brooks asked me to share with the Chapter and our community networks describing the event in July:

Exhibit Title: Black Activism in Print: Visual Art from the African American Collection

Exhibit Opening date: Thursday, July 13th 6pm-8pm

Exhibit Description:

Black printmakers occupy a dynamic and vibrant place in the art world. Printmaking often levels the equity and accessibility of art to larger audiences due to the cost of materials and the ability for reproduction. Black Activism in Print will highlight two famous artists, Charles White, and Elizabeth Catlett. These artists involved in the Black Arts Movement were adamant in revealing the particularities, struggles, strengths, and celebrations of African Americans through the creation of visual art, sculpture, poetry, and prints. Embedded in these works was a palpable emphasis on Black economic and cultural autonomy akin to the teachings of the Black Power and Black liberation scholars of the time. Alongside these prints will be poetry created in collaboration with the African American Writers Alliance (AAWA), embodying art in the past and present. The prints were donated to the collection in the 1960s by the Delta Upsilon Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Alpha Kappa Alpha’s and notable figures in the sorority’s creation of the African American Collection and work to create a space for Black art and knowledge are also featured in this exhibition.