Exhibit reflects black life at Duke

Art can be a powerful way to share history, and the new exhibit at the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture is no exception.

Images of Our Heritage uses media as diverse as photography, painting, drawing and printed parchment speeches to explore the nature of black life at Duke and beyond.

The exhibit marks the opening of Black History Month, which is celebrated annually in February at Duke, in the United States and internationally.

This year, however, is special to the University for its theme From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas, which was selected in honor of John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke professor emeritus of history. Franklin was among the first to use his studies to present the struggle for freedom from slavery as an essential element of black history and identity.

Franklin's photograph is included in the new exhibit alongside photos of Samuel DuBois Cook, Duke's first black professor, and many other past and present black administrators. These photographs, as well as many of the exhibit's pieces, will become part of the MLWC's permanent collection.

Student artwork by junior Ikee Gardner, freshman Jesse Huddleston and seniors Amber Mason and Iman Washington is featured in this exhibit in the form of poetry, drawings and photographs.

The mixture of student, professional and historic artwork is important to the exhibit, which expresses both overarching cultural achievements as well as personal stories, said Jamaica Woodyard-Gilmer, exhibit coordinator and program assistant at the MLWC.

"The exhibit speaks to the heritage of black culture at large and at Duke," she said. "Race and culture here has been important and amazing, and we're looking to commemorate them through images and documents."