On Saturday, Oct. 7, the Indianapolis Public Central Library will celebrate its 100th anniversary, having opened in 1917. Festivities begin at 11 a.m., and all are welcome. Two weeks later — on Saturday, Oct. 21, at noon — is the grand opening of the Indianapolis Public Library Center for Black Literature and Culture (CBLC), which will feature a keynote by journalist and political commentator Roland Martin.
His morning news show on TV One is refreshing in comparison to all the other morning shows, because you get to listen to a distinctive Black voice and perspective on current topics, and trust me when I say Roland does not hold back and neither do any of his special guest commentators. He’s perfect for the opening of the CBLC — bold, expressive and proud.
Having just returned from finally having the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, I feel a heightened sensitivity to the significance of reclamation when it comes to presenting an accounting of the collective history of a group of people.
In terms of the experiences of Black people, whether or not we consider this from the context of the African diaspora or a more localized U.S. context, it is possible to capture time periods that have shaped our collective journey.
In his masterful book Critique of Black Reason, Achille Mbembe discusses the “three critical moments in the biography of the vertiginous assemblage that is Blackness and race.” He states, “The first arrived with the organized despoliation of the Atlantic slave trade … through which men and women from Africa were transformed into human-objects, human-commodities, human-money.”
Mbembe then notes, “The second moment corresponded with the birth of writing near the end of the eighteenth century, when Blacks, as beings-taken-by-others, began leaving traces in a language all of their own and at the same time demanded the status of full subjects in the world of the living.” Finally, he states, “The third moment — the early twenty-first century — is one marked by the globalization of markets, the privatization of the world under the aegis of neoliberalism, and the increasing imbrication of the financial markets, the post-imperial military complex, and electronic and digital technologies.”
The National Museum of African American History & Culture is able to capture the essence of all of those moments, and so it is impossible to experience all it has to offer in just one visit. I went there two days in a row with my parents, a trip we planned in celebration of my father’s 80th birthday, and while there is still a lot to be seen, I walked out of that museum with my head held high and a boundless determination. The road forward is paved with gold, and if you don’t understand that, go to that museum.
And so the complexity of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1917 library opening in Indianapolis (with the knowledge of what African-Americans faced in this city and country at that time) coinciding with the grand opening of the Center for Black Literature and Culture at the very same location is not lost on me, as I’m sure it is not lost on others. Any commemoration of 100 years later must be transparent and acknowledge all aspects of the historical context at the time of its beginnings, challenges faced and those overcome.
Public institutions are reflective of the public, the atmosphere and those that occupy that space, and while we expect them to operate on a higher moral plane, history tells us that the accountability of these public institutions often came from outside agitation, because control of those institutions was by those in power.
Libraries have traditionally been open and safe, containers of knowledge and accessible to all, though not always comprehensive in maintaining a diverse collection of materials reflective of diverse groups of people. And so here we are 100 years later, when a generous grant from the Lilly Foundation has provided for the opening of the Center for Black Literature and Culture at the Indianapolis Central Public Library.
Dr. Terri Jett is an associate professor and Special Assistant to the Provost for Diversity and Inclusivity at Butler University. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indianapolis Public Library.
