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Finding
A Way
Virtual Exhibit
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On February 6, 1983 “Finding A Way: The Black Family’s
Struggle for an Education at
the Atlanta University Center” opened at the Robert W.
Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center. Created
by the African American Family History
Association (AAFHA)
and largely funded by the National Endowment
for the Humanities, the exhibit was the third in a series examining
Black family history in Georgia. Through these exhibits and
other educational activities, AAFHA increased public awareness
of and appreciation for the significance of black family heritage.
“
Finding A Way” is a testimony to the black
family’s value of education as a means for upward mobility.
The exhibit highlights the history of education at the Atlanta
University Center (AUC) colleges. The early AUC is comprised
of Atlanta University, Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University),
Gammon Theological Seminary (now one of 6 seminaries comprising
the Interdenominational Theological Center), Morehouse College,
Morris Brown College, and Spelman College. Established at
the close of the Civil War these schools were among the more
than one hundred institutions founded in the Southern United
States during this time, and served as the cornerstone for
educational opportunity for the newly freed slaves.
The exhibit was originally scheduled for display at the
Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library (RWWL)
from February 6, 1983 to February 1, 1984. Its popularity
to visitors and alumni resulted in the exhibit remaining
on display for over 20 years; and it has become an important
tool for AUC faculty in teaching the history and legacy of
the Atlanta University Center. The exhibit takes its name
from the Atlanta University motto “I’ll Find
a Way or Make One.” This motto and the exhibit depict
African American’s quest for education and reflects
the spirit of people to overcome adversity and the triumph
of their success.
“Finding A Way” is comprised of six sections:
Educational Opportunities, Extra-Curricular Activities, Interpersonal
Relations, Families at the AUC, Studies of Black Families
and Community Outreach. Using photographs, letters, diplomas,
clothing, books, yearbooks, other memorabilia and artifacts;
each section speaks to a different aspect of education in
the Atlanta University Center, and reveals the important
role families played and the sacrifices they made to ensure
the education of their children.
The original exhibit was displayed in the Library’s
exhibition hall. After the exhibit’s closing in 1984,
it was moved from the Virginia Lacy Jones Exhibition Hall
on the upper level and relocated to a smaller space on the
main level of the Library. This smaller version of the exhibit
remains on display and hundreds of students, alumni, and
visitors come to see it each year. Visitors are captivated
by the early 20th century classroom setting of desks, blackboard
and lectern. Also featured are the desk, chair, and typewriter
used by W.E.B. DuBois when he taught at Atlanta University,
as well as the athletic sweater, track shoes, and medals
of Eugene Brown, Clark University, 1935. Complementing these
artifacts are photographs of academic, community, and social
life at the Atlanta University Center. There are photographs
of students, faculty, administrators, class portraits, student
clubs, theater productions, concerts, sports events, homecoming
events, dances, graduations, weddings, campus buildings and
the surrounding neighborhood. Documents on display include
diplomas, yearbooks, student magazines, programs and college
publications. Most compelling are the letters of students
and their family members during the early founding of the
colleges.
The virtual exhibit provides a photographic essay of many
of the documents and photographs in the exhibit, as well
as an electronic version of the exhibit catalog. The virtual
exhibit was designed to preserve this historical resource
so that it can continue to be used for education and teaching,
and to open the exhibit to a worldwide audience.
The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Please check library
hours when
planning your visit. To schedule a group visit, please contact
the library at 404-978-2000.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the former leaders of the African American Family
History Association for their permission to transform the
exhibit and catalog into a virtual display: Beverly Guy-Sheftall,
Carole Merritt, Joyce Mills, and Rodney Poitier. Recognition
to Robert W. Woodruff Library administrators – Loretta
Parham, CEO/Director and Elizabeth McClenney, Deputy Director
for their support and encouragement; and to Library staff
who prepared the virtual exhibit - Andrea Jackson, Karen
Jefferson, and Trashinda Wright. Appreciation to the IVT
for their technical expertise. Special acknowledgement to
Leilani Simmons Johnson for researching, writing first drafts,
and helping to conceptualize the virtual exhibit. Mrs. Johnson,
a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, was a 2005-2006 Andrew
W. Mellon Foundation Fellow in the Librarian Recruitment
Program at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta
University Center.
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