Professors and students were celebrating African-American writing on Feb. 1 in the Library Loggia by . The event was coordinated by Professors Furaha Henry-Jones and William Loudermilk and was held from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The event was informal and students and professors were encouraged to read aloud different works by African-American writers. There was a table set up with books and poems by African-American authors including, Nikki Giovanni, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and James Baldwin, to name a few. “About 35 to 40” people attended the event, according to Henry-Jones and Loudermilk. A majority the audience read the material available.
“We had a good representation of faculty and students,” Henry-Jones said.
Henry-Jones, who is African-American, said that African-American writing is important to her.
“It’s intimately intertwined with who I am as a person,” Henry-Jones said.
Henry-Jones hopes that next year’s event can exceed this year’s turnout.
“I’d love to see a hundred people next year with books in hand saying ‘Ooh ooh, can I read?'” Henry-Jones said.