Transcripts

PAULA SCHROEDER: This collection certainly is widely varied, I would think, and encompasses such a long period of time. How is it-- how is it structured, and what is its significance to you?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: Well, the significance is, particularly for me, it's named in my father's honor, which is very significant to our family. But also, I think is a gem for the State of Minnesota, because it is one of the top collections of its kind in the country and it spans 200 years of the life of the people. And it shows how we've grown and changed, not only in writing, but in terms of art, literature, music. It encompasses a whole tradition approach to the whole of our life experiences.

PAULA SCHROEDER: A lot of us, I think, tend to think of Black literature as really flowering in the 1960s and beyond with the Civil Rights movement. Was there a great deal of activity in the arts and literary areas prior to that time?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: The particular period of time that the exhibit focuses on is actually a small portion of the collection, but highlighted because it's first editions. The jacket covers are original art. In some cases, the pictures and sketches within the books themselves are art, but it shows how culture of flower during the Harlem Renaissance period of time, predominantly in New York, but it carries through to Minnesota and throughout the country.

PAULA SCHROEDER: That was in the 1920s?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: 1920s Yes. And that was-- there was a big explosion of art, literature, and whole appreciation, which incorporates jazz, incorporates dance. And the exhibit shows through pictures and photographs, along with books that depict that period of time. It was a time for sports, Jack Johnson. It really it was a tremendous period for our people.

PAULA SCHROEDER: This is a kind of thing that a lot of people really need to spend some time studying rather than just walking through an exhibit, I would think, to get a full sense of what this Renaissance period was about. Is the exhibit-- is there any part of the exhibit that is used for education purposes, or are the classes available?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: A great portion of the collection, per se, which is housed at the University of Minnesota Wilson Library in the Special Collections edition, which is predominantly rare books and other artifacts, is used extensively by scholars from around the country to study abroad the 200 period of time that I spoke of. It's also used by students at the University of Minnesota.

We're working with the University College of Education to design an independent study program that students and just people who are interested can come and do some of the research and study associated with this collection.

PAULA SCHROEDER: I'm kind of surprised that this is here in Minnesota or at the University of Minnesota, too. This is a pretty white state, not a large African American community here. How did it end up here?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: It was quite an odyssey because we were fortunate enough to-- we, meaning the university and our family-- to have heard about this collection. Professor in New York had been collecting it for over 25 years as a personal interest and a personal hobby. And the story goes, he found that the books outgrew his apartment, his studio apartment in New York, and so he wanted to make it available and had some contacts here in Minnesota.

Professor John Wright, who is at the University of Minnesota, is one of the top scholars in the country on the whole period of African American literature and life, and was fortunate to help direct us to be able to purchase it. And we, our family, were able to gather 10 other Black families in the Twin City areas to match our contribution. And that was the first time that we had come together to really demonstrate some leadership within our Twin Cities Minnesota community and bring a real gem, a real treasure here to house and be used for everyone.

PAULA SCHROEDER: This has been on a nationwide tour and now it's going to, as I mentioned, several cities around Minnesota. What is your hope as far as-- if you're making this available for people to see all across the country, what do you want people to get out of it?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: We're trying, Paula, to make the whole collection, the whole feeling of the period of time come to life. And to me, it represents a comfortable way to broach a very difficult subject, which generally is racism in America. And through art, through literature, through books, you can study portions of our history and still get involved with the very touchy, very personal social subjects.

So one of the things that we are doing along with the tour is bringing a workshop for teachers, educators in that particular community like Duluth, or Rochester, or wherever. We go so that they can find out how to use works from the collection as a curriculum guide, be it kindergarten or 12th grade or college level. There is a way that you can broach the whole subject of African American life in a curriculum sense for educational purposes to students. And that's one of the-- I think one of the strong offshoots of this whole process of going around the State of Minnesota.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Much of the exhibit, of course, is by Black artists and writers, musicians. But some of it is also how whites portrayed Blacks, right? Is that to show the evolution of racism?

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: I think it's to show, yeah, the evolution of culture and different ways to look at it. There's also writings by authors from the Caribbean who are approaching slavery from a different perspective and writing reflections on it. There's European writers who are writing about it, as well as Phillis Wheatley, a woman who lived through it and barely wrote about slavery. She wrote about her educational process and growth as a person in that period of time.

So there are so many segments that a scholar or student can really pick up on. If you want to just discuss how women writers view contemporary fiction, there's a whole series on just that portion. So you can choose your own kind of approach to this whole cultural development.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Once again, not a single eye looking at the African American culture, but many.

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: That's correct. It's a worldview, if you will.

PAULA SCHROEDER: Yeah. Archie Givens, I want to thank you for coming in. Now, if people want to see the exhibit, it's in Minneapolis at the Pillsbury House until Friday.

ARCHIE GIVENS JR.: It's at the Pillsbury house till Friday on 35th Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis. It will then go on a six-city tour throughout the state of Minnesota, beginning in September in Duluth. And we hope to continue it after those six cities throughout the next few years.