CARLI Digital Collections
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EBR African American Cultural Life (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) |
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The EBR African American Cultural Life digital collection contains photographs, posters, and pamphlets selected from the Eugene B. Redmond (EBR) Collection at Lovejoy Library.
Eugene Redmond is the Poet Laureate of East St. Louis and the author of six poetry collections including Eye in the Ceiling: Selected Poems which received the American Book Award. He is also the author of Drumvoices: The Mission of African American Poetry, A Critical History and the founding editor of Drumvoices Revue. In his poetry, Redmond has drawn on the sounds, rhythms, and themes inherent in jazz, spirituals, and bebop. His 30-year career includes work in academia at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) and California State University, Sacramento, and a constant schedule of writing, teaching, performing, and mentoring. Throughout it all, Redmond has been both participant and observer, celebrant and witness. The Eugene B. Redmond Collection includes over 100,000 photographs, posters, and programs documenting the mosaic of African American cultural life over the last 30 years.
Redmond’s work as a poet, activist, teacher, and mentor put him in contact with other artists both iconic and unheralded. The people featured in the search box to the right sustained the Black Arts Movement and extended it through the urban renaissance of hip hop and spoken word. These people include bookstore owners and Nobel Prize winners, musicians, activists, and academics. The photographs reveal the diversity and support for the cultural and political activities that flourished across the spectrum of African American life from the 1960s to the present.
Eugene Redmond’s career began in East St. Louis amidst the early excitement of the Black Arts Movement. That movement matured to become a distinctive American voice incorporating creative expression and critical engagement. Redmond was present at every step of this process: creating writing programs, organizing academic departments, supporting upstart publishing endeavors, and constantly teaching, writing, and performing. The events featured in the search box below provide a photographic and cultural record of institutional support for this movement.
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