African American Cultural Center showcases Black love in book blitz

Matthew Burkhart Staff Writer

To celebrate both Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, the African American Cultural Center displayed the exhibit “28 Days of Love: Black Book Blitz.” The showcase features Black authors who published books about Black love that are available to be checked out of the center’s library.

Brionna Johnson, the center’s interim library coordinator and curator of the exhibit, said renovations that made the center’s exhibit room unavailable during January 2023 inspired the center to devise the exhibit, adding the seasonal theme of love to the subject of Black literature.

Brionna Johnson said Black love and relationships are often portrayed as flawed, toxic and traumatic in popular culture, and the exhibit aimed to shed light on the reality and many forms of Black love.

“In the Black community, you always have to go through struggle love first to get to the end result where, then, it’s something beautiful,” Brionna Johnson said. “But why do we have to struggle? Why can’t it just be euphoric all the time? And then why can’t we think about self-love and platonic love, like love for friends … the ways in which it doesn’t have to struggle — it can be boring, and it can be joyful, and it can be something that’s presented beautifully.”

Sol Johnson, a fourth-year studying psychology who helped curate the exhibit, said required readings of Black literature in schools often show only one representation of Black life.

“Often when Black love is discussed in various mediums, there’s usually a focus on Black trauma, or there’s simply just a lack of softness in the representation of Black love,” Sol Johnson said. “To me, Black love is soft. It’s intimate. It’s kind — it’s all of those things.” angela gay-audre, the director of the center, said Black love represents the universal care and understanding between every Black person.

“Even in the midst of struggle and pain, and the struggles and the things that happen in our every day, we still have the ability to choose joy,” gay-audre said. “We can still laugh. We can still engage in the vernacular of our people, of our ancestors. We can still engage with our most innermost selves and allow that to be a guiding force, a guiding light in our life.” gay-audre said this love is present in the miniscule moments of everyday life.

“[Black love] is walking down the street, and you see a stranger, and just by making eye contact or a simple head nod or a gesture or particular looking in your eyes, you know that that person sees you, that they witness you, and you have the ability to be able to witness them too,” gay-audre said. “It’s that feeling of feeling connected. Even in a world that makes you feel alone, you know that you’ve got somebody.” gay-audre said Black culture is intertwined with queer culture; without one, the other would be incomplete. Along with accurately depicting these two cultures, she said the exhibit looked to promote marginalized authors whose work has not received the attention it deserves.

The exhibit featured books by Black authors from multiple time periods and backgrounds. Alongside classics, there were a wealth of new books from queer authors.

The exhibit displayed the true depth of Black literature, featuring books that are centered on all aspects of Black life, including Black womanism, Black feminism and Black boyhood, among others.

Sol Johnson said the selection of books the center devised hoped to shine light on every aspect and view of Black life and Black love. They said books centered around Black womanism have taught them how to live as a Black woman among other Black women.

“Being Black is one thing; being a woman is another thing,” Sol Johnson said. “Being a Black woman is a whole different thing entirely because you’re facing oppression based on so many different aspects of your identity. And for me, Black womanism is existing in spite of that. It’s learning to love who you are. It’s learning to love other Black women. It’s learning the things that you’re going to face as a Black woman, learning how to combat those things, how to grow in spite of those things.” gay-audre said the ultimate purpose of this exhibit was to prove that Black love has always been represented in literature, and now is a time as important as ever to elevate these works.

Amonte McNair, a first-year studying accounting and a visitor at the exhibit, said being aware of books centered around Black love gives him a sense of belonging, as most Black literature he has read has been centered around Black trauma. For McNair, the exhibited books fill a gap in the representation of Black people in literature.

“We wanted to really center that narrative,” gay-audre said. “Not to say this is a future goal, but this is where we are right now — we’re actually doing this.”