UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” set in Ohio prior to Emancipation, the character Baby Suggs gives a sermon in a clearing — a scene that is used as a centerpiece for the exhibition “Black Feminist Embodiments of Self-Love and Self-Recovery,” on display through Nov. 20 outside the Paterno Reading Room on the second floor of Pattee Library. The exhibition displays sources of self-love and self-recovery found in a variety of literature by and about Black women.
In "Beloved," Baby Suggs encourages a congregation of enslaved Black people to “love [their flesh] hard” in contrast to conventional Christian doctrine that subordinates the flesh to the spirit. For Baby Suggs, the love of one’s self — spirit, body and mind — is crucial for Black women’s survival and victory in transcending the marginalization that stems from white supremacist patriarchal oppression.
The books collected in this display are selections from the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora. They highlight the movement toward self-love, healing, self-possession and survival through varied topics such as health, spirituality, poetry, literature, photography and social and political engagement. They suggest the power in Black women’s resistance to racism and patriarchy through selections such as Audre Lorde’s “Sister Outsider,” Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens,” and studies of Black women’s spirituality in “My Soul Is a Witness” by Gloria Wade-Gayles. The materials in this exhibition reveal the diversity of sources on Black feminism available for research in the Blockson Collection.
The exhibition is curated by Glynnis Reed-Conway, a third-year doctoral candidate in art education and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. The exhibition coincides with her research interests in Black feminist resistance and self-recovery through artmaking. Since August 2021, Reed-Conway has served as the Blockson graduate assistant with the Eberly Family Special Collections Library at Penn State.
For more information about “Black Feminist Embodiments of Self-Love and Self-Recovery,” to arrange a tour, or for questions about physical access to the exhibit, contact Clara Drummond, curator and exhibitions coordinator, Eberly Family Special Collections Library, at cjd86@psu.edu or 814-865-1793.