J. Saunders Redding: An Exhibition on View

Friday, April 27

Event runs from January 17 to April 27

Morris Library Morris Library, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA

The University of Delaware Library announced the exhibition “J. Saunders Redding: An Exhibition.” The exhibition celebrates the life and career of the prominent African American author, critic and educator, J. Saunders Redding and will be on view through Friday, April 27, 2012, in conjunction with Black History Month.

James Thomas Saunders Redding was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1906, the third of seven children. His parents were alumni of Howard University and instilled in their children the value of education and all seven went on to college and had successful careers. J. Saunders Redding’s older brother Lewis Redding became the first African American attorney admitted to the bar in Delaware and was a member of the NAACP legal team that challenged school segregation in the Brown v. Board of Education case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Like his brother Lewis, J. Saunders Redding graduated from Brown University; and did graduate work at both Brown and Columbia University. He began his distinguished academic career as a member of the faculty at Morehouse College (1928-31) in Atlanta, Georgia. He later taught at Louisville Municipal College (1934-36) in Louisville, Kentucky; Southern University (1936-38) in Baton Rouge, Louisana; and served as head of the English Department at Elizabeth City State University (1938-43) in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He worked at Hampton Institute (1943-55) in Hampton, Virginia, as professor of literature and creative writing. He was a member of the faculty at George Washington University (1968-69) in Washington, DC, and was the first African American to hold the rank of professor in the College of Arts & Sciences and the first to hold an endowed chair at Cornell University (1970) in Ithaca, New York. He was twice a Guggenheim Fellow (1944-45, 1959-60).

J. Saunders Redding wrote a well-received novel, “Stranger and Alone” (1950) and two published memoirs, “On Being Negro in America” (1951) and “No Day of Triumph” (1942), but he is best known for his historical and critical writing, particularly his groundbreaking first book “To Make a Poet Black” (1939).

“J. Saunders Redding: An Exhibition” will display examples of his published work as well as books from his personal library which are owned by Special Collections in the University of Delaware Library.

“J. Saunders Redding: An Exhibition” is curated by Timothy D. Murray, Head, Special Collections Department of the University of Delaware Library.

Related link: [www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/jan/j-saunders-redding-011312.html]

For Library hours call 302-831-BOOK or check the Library web at [www.udel.edu/library]