Kent State University Libraries, in partnership with the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the Department of Pan-African Studies, presents “Coming of Age at Kent 1967-71: A Pictorial of Black Student Life,” an exhibit of the photographs of Lafayette Tolliver.
Tolliver is a Kent State alumnus who attended the university from 1967-71, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in photojournalism. He served as a photographer and columnist for the Chestnut Burr yearbook and the Daily Kent Stater campus newspaper. He was often called upon as an informal photographer for many activities sponsored by black student organizations during his tenure at Kent State and served as one of the founding members of Black United Students. Due to his extensive campus involvement, Tolliver produced thousands of photographs, many of which were never published or otherwise made accessible to the public until now. Tolliver donated his collection of prints and negatives to Kent State’s Special Collections and Archives in January 2014.
The exhibit will include selected images that depict the wide breadth of the black student experience during the late ’60s and early ’70s at the height of the black campus movement. The exhibit will take visitors on a journey from the birth of young love, to the spirit of competition through athletics, ending with victory through protest.
The exhibit runs from Oct. 6-23 and is free and open to the public during gallery hours. The reception with remarks by Tolliver will take place on Saturday, Oct. 18. Remarks begin at 11 a.m. at the Ritchie Lecture Hall (Room 214), with the reception to follow from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at the Uumbaji Gallery (Ritchie Hall, Room 134). Ritchie Hall is located at 225 Terrace Drive in Kent.
Attendees of the opening reception are asked to register by completing an online RSVP by Sept. 30 at http://bit.ly/tolliver.
For questions, contact Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, university archivist, at lhughesw@kent.edu or 330-672-1639.
For more information about Special Collections at Kent State University Libraries, visit www.library.kent.edu/specialcollections.
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Media Contacts:
Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, lhughesw@kent.edu, 330-672-1639
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595