Westwood Library celebrates Black History Month

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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter

With the onset of February also comes Black History Month. Celebrated as early as 1926, it is an exceptionally important time for remembrance of critical moments in United States, and world, history. To help celebrate this month, the Westwood Library has a new exhibit titled “Black Leaders.” Featuring a number of historical posters, the exhibit boasts pieces emblazoned with Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Jesse Jackson, and many more.

The exhibit is “a tribute to black leaders who rose to prominence and/or leadership positions, often in spite of discrimination, repression, and state sponsored disinformation campaigns.” Historically, posters were used by leaders or movements in order to educate and win support of people who were perhaps illiterate. Often, posters can be discarded after their use, which is an unfortunate fate. This exhibit is one way in which these posters can be maintained for posterity. Unfortunately, “space does not allow for detailed descriptions of their lives, but interested people are encouraged to read books that have been published about many of them, or view the films that were produced about some of them.”

While space does not allow for a full description of the leaders’ lives, the posters allow for a very specific type of insight into their lives and beliefs. Posters can be one of the most beautiful forms of propaganda, lending a particular viewpoint to otherwise overlooked aspects of a figure’s life. Some of the more interesting posters in this collection include a Spanish-language poster in support of Nelson Mandala and an Angela Davis poster encouraging voters to sign a petition to get a Communist candidate on the ballot. A poster of Frederick Douglass is also featured. Douglass is a particularly interesting figure in the history of portraits and physical representation, as explored by David E. White Jr. at the Harvard Art Museum through his project comparing Douglass and Obama in their Politicization of Art.

The posters in this exhibit are from a collection of more than 6,000 held by Stephen Lewis, a long-time activist in the labor movement and the former Treasurer of his union. His collection has been featured as a number of libraries in the state, as well as two of the state heritage parks.