Artist Steve A. Prince captures one aspect of the African American struggle for Civil Rights in his piece "Read-In-Alexandria," depicting a time when African Americans staged a peaceful protest against segregation at the public library in Alexandria, Virginia in 1939.Books have played a key part of the African American struggle for freedom: from David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World that called for slaves to revolt against those who held them captive; through the 17th and 18th century slave narratives when Frederick Douglass and others use the book to influence public sentiment; and on through the Black Arts Movement of the mid twentieth century when Larry Neale, Addison Gayle, Stephen Henderson, and a myriad of poets like Sonia Sanchez, June Jordan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, and Etheridge Knight became the literary counterpart to the Black Power Movement. And since Walker published his Appeal in 1829, white supremacists sought to curtail the access African Americans had to books. So of course we pushed against exclusion from libraries before we fought to sit at a lunch counter.
Books are not only about the freedom struggle. Reading is a way of decoding knowledge transmitted by fellow sojourners. It captures our attention and opens up the world. In the other piece featured here, Prince depicts a more personal encounter with a book. The young woman sits barefoot and cross-legged and enraptured. Her hair appears animated as if to suggest the flight that books offer the mind. It’s simply titled, “Peace of Mind.”
Bio: Prince is Artist-in-Residence and Assistant Professor of Art at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He is represented by Eyekons Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zucot Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, and co-owner of One Fish Studio, LLC. Prince has taught with the Art League since 1995 with such classes as Drawing, Bronze Casting, Printmaking, the SOHO Program, and the Art League Art Camp. Prince has created several public works and has received several honors for his art and scholarship including the 2010 Teacher of the year for the City of Hampton, Virginia. Prince has shown his art in various solo, group, and juried exhibitions and he has lectured in both secular and sacred settings internationally. He received his BFA from Xavier University of Louisiana and his MFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Michigan State University.
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