Squires Library opens up the conversation about Black History Month
Kashif Andrew Graham sits at his desk in Squires Library Photo: Melissa Frontado
By Melissa Frontado, Diversity Columnist
Now that Black History Month is upon us, the William Squires Library has transformed to highlight some of the great struggles of African American History through art and literature. I sat down with one of the creative visionaries behind the project, the Evening and Weekend Supervisor Kashif Andrew Graham, to get a better understanding of his ambitions for the library and his thoughts on the nation's month of remembrance.
When did you start becoming interested in this issue?
"I started investigating African American history and intercultural relations during my undergrad career. I took a class in prison narratives which really sparked my interest in looking at not only the history of slavery, but also the history of oppression [that affects not only] African Americans but other minority groups.
So what exactly is on display around the library for Black History Month?
"We have a display for Martin Luther King Day. We have a lot of books on civil rights especially ... [focused on] the United States, but it's also connected to other groups' struggles. We have a connection [between] the Holocaust and what is essentially the American Holocaust.
Black History Month is not just about African Americans, it's about the African American struggle in a narrative framework. The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) has a great painting that has the outline of an African American face superimposed with the face of a traditional Jewish man, and what it's basically saying is that the struggles align.
So we go from there to other Renaissance painters and thinkers and other events that are traditionally connected with the civil rights era. They are out of order, chronologically, but it's meant to mimic a dream. We have this along with something that is crucial, or central rather, to the civil rights movement, which is the bus boycotts. We want the theme of transportation, movement, the struggle for freedom and migration all weaved together."
As a Jamaican-American man, what does Black History Month mean to you?
"Black History Month, to me, is the chance for the current generation, the millennials, to look back on their forefathers [and] to recognize that we are coming from a longer tradition. You know, there are so many people that I could name. It's a chance for us to not only celebrate their lives but remember that we're truly standing on the shoulders of giants. [Black History Month] is a chance for us to stop, look back, and reflect on how far we've come."
In your personal opinion, why does Lee need more Black History Month events?
"We're in the South, everyone who has grown up in the United States knows the history of the South in regards to race relations. I think Lee University needs to show that they're aware, they're aware of the past, and they are actively and intentionally trying to make changes for the future. This includes, of course [acknowledging] we're in the era of #blacklivesmatter. [Lee does] not [necessarily need to take] part in that discourse, but this includes being aware of the historical disadvantage of African Americans. Lee needs more Black History Month events to make a public statement: 'We care. We're aware that you're here and you're a part of our body.' So it's our time to put down our own agenda and to pick up yours and say, 'You matter and what's going on in your life and your history is important to us'.'
Who are your biggest heroes in Black History?
"I look at Ida B. Wells definitely as a hero. Ida B. Wells [began] to write about lynching in the South when it [was] considered something that's culturally acceptable. It [was] a cultural means of social justice, but Ida B. Wells looked at it and [said], 'This is vigilantism.' And she suffer[ed] a lot, she [took] a lot of hits because she [was] the first one to open her mouth and say, ' There's an injustice being done here.'
Of course, one cannot go without mentioning Martin Luther King Jr., but in a different way. I grew up with only thinking of him as a historic figure. Just recently did I look at a picture of him and look into his face and think of the amount of hatred that he had to stand up against. To think that he is not one of the first, but became one of the loudest voices through a channel of peace ... We simply cannot go without talking about him.
We have, of course, Rosa Parks and many of the other, sort of smaller figures like Alain Locke. People like The Little Rock Nine, the people who suffered rejection. People who went into areas where they were not wanted, [and] took the hits and knew that they were laying a foundation, a bridge, for people to walk across. If it were not for people like them, I would not have the education that I have today."
What do you want the students at Lee to know about the library's Black History Month?
"I want Lee students to know that when they come to the library they are not going to get a traditional Black History Month spiel. I want them to know that they are going to get something that is artistically driven but also [that] it's going to recognize civil rights as being a discourse within many other discourses. I want Lee students to be aware that we're looking at civil rights as connected to so many other things, and those things also help us to explain and understand civil rights.
My desire is that when we talk about civil rights we teach them, open the grotesque, the ugly, the things that are a lot closer to home than they realize. And that's what we're here to present to the student body."
Graham is available for questions and conversation in his office at the library.
