January 28 – April 28, 2010
In 1931, in Depression-plagued Alabama, nine black youths were falsely accused of rape by two white women. The ensuing court trials became known as the Scottsboro case, and the black youths as “the Scottsboro boys.” By the end of that year Langston Hughes, the famous black poet of the Harlem Renaissance, had written a play about the injustice, and the following year he added four poems to his play to make a booklet. He asked his friend, the white artist Prentiss Taylor, to illustrate the poems. The four lithographs in this exhibition are the product of that collaboration and a testament to a 36-year friendship.
Lauren Rabb, Curator
Remembering Langston Hughes
Charles Scruggs, Professor of English, will talk briefly about the Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes; Geta LeSeur-Brown, Professor of African American Studies, will speak more about Hughes and read some of his poetry.
Thursday, April 1 at 4:00pm in the UAMA Galleries
This series of small, rotating presentations showcases the exceptional breadth and depth of the UAMA print collection. These selections offer focused consideration of a particularly significant artist or theme, and elucidate some of the most influential developments in the Western printmaking tradition.
