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Library
Hours of Operation |
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Mon-Thurs. |
7:30 am - 12:00 am |
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Friday |
7:30 am - 6:00 pm |
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Saturday |
12:00 pm - 6:00 pm |
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Sunday |
12:00 pm - 12:00 am |
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Archives & Special
Collections |
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Mon-Thurs. |
1:00 pm - 7:00
pm |
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Friday |
1:00 pm - 5:00
pm |
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Saturday |
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm |
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Sunday |
CLOSED |
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Calendar Exceptions |
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WHY
THE JOHN HENRIK CLARK COLLECTION?
[Excerpts from the article by John Henrik Clarke
in The Diversified Hexagon, vol. 8, no. 1, May 1991]
"As a person who is mainly self-educated,
I grew up in this world craving for books that would
answer my many unformed questions. I grew to early
manhood in Columbus, Georgia in the years when Blacks
could not use the public library. I often went into
the public library with a note requesting that this
boy be given a certain book, giving the impression
that I was doing an errand for some well-known white
person. This 'boot-legged-book-borrowing' worked
well for a while, but it stopped when the person
whose name I had used, on one occasion, appeared
in the library. To this day, I do not know what he
was doing there because I had worked for him after
school and never saw him read anything, not even
a newspaper. In my last years in Columbus, Georgia,
I lived in a boarding house called Miss Rosa Lee's.
The ladies who lived there, in respect for my liking
to read, bought me a complete set of Winston Encyclopedia.
Through these books, the borrowed ones and the gifts,
and in spite of my miserable poverty, I grew up in
a world rich with ideas. |
My decision to leave the
most important books in my personal library
to the Woodruff Library was made because
I was born in Union Springs, Alabama and
grew to early manhood in Columbus, Georgia
and have always had the secret wish to make
a literary contribution to one of these states.
I have become a historian, educator, writer,
lecturer, reviewer, and a curriculum specialist
and credit both of these states with shaping
the man I became. The Woodruff Library was
chosen because of my relationship with Atlanta
University, the consortium around it, and
the fact that the Woodruff Library has some
of the better facilities for the preservation
of books than any college library I have
visited. I learned of the special collections
in the Woodruff Library the year my daughter
Nzingha Marie Clarke spent at Spelman.
Most men start out in life with a certain goal
and mission in mind and ultimately have to settle for
a mission far short of their original intent. I was fortunate
in this regard because I became, in my life time, what
I set out to be- a creative and effective class-room
teacher. I was the head of several organizations and
for three years Chairman of the Department of Africana
and Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, in New York
City. But the center of my world was in the arena of
books, documents and ideas relating to social change.
My interest in the life, history, culture, politics and
humanity of my own people taught me a respect for all
people. The books in my library reflect my interest in
my own people, in particular, and the people of the world
in general.
I have related to the consortium of colleges that
are served by the Woodruff Library for well over
15 years. Part of my decision to donate my books to this
library
is that I consider this consortium and other schools
in the Atlanta area the basis of an educational
center that speaks well for the United States and a progressive
nation. Because I was born of a humble sharecropper
(land-less
peasants) background I have always wanted my life
to make a cultural and political statement. This is a
lesson
I learned from my fifth grade teacher, Ms. Everlyna
Taylor, who taught me the meaning of education and said
that
I should strive to never be anything less than
my best self. She taught me to believe in myself, my
people and
the humanity of all people. This along with my
curiosity is reflected in the books that I read and still
collect.
It is part of my personal mission and it is also
what I hope will be a moderate legacy that a son of an
Alabama
sharecropper can leave for all human kind."
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