The spring 2021 BIPOC book display highlighted materials held at the Bowdoin Library and represented an opportunity to increase the inclusivity of Library collections from a student perspective. Thando curated this inaugural display, which focused on themes of motherhood and spoke to her childhood disappointment in not finding someone like herself among the literary characters she most admired.
Through conceiving of and curating the display, Thando hoped to “increase representation and show children of color everywhere that they can see themselves slaying dragons and saving the world in a way I never could have dreamed.” In conversation with Carmen Greenlee, Humanities and Media Librarian, Thando spoke about the theme of the display and her selection of books included in it and read selected passages. The recording is up on Facebook.
Curator’s Statement:
Growing up, the majority of the characters in the books I read did not match my pigmentation: they were white. I wanted to be like the Hermione Grangers of the world; however, by middle school, I realized that, because of the color of my skin, I would never be able to properly see myself in the characters I loved so much. Consequently, a hate for my black skin began to grow in my heart. I would cry myself to sleep and ask God why he had forsaken me with this skin. Now that I have grown in confidence and love for my melanin, I would like to save young black children across the country from the same destruction of self that I endured. This list is meant to increase representation and show black children everywhere that they can see themselves slaying dragons and saving the world in a way I never could have dreamed. Also, increased inclusivity on the shelves will help white and other non-black patrons gain access to black experiences that they might not be exposed to otherwise.
– Thando Khumalo
Thando created this list of books (Google doc), of which 70 titles went on to become part of the display
During the summer of 2017, Darius Riley took photographs of his hometown of East Palo Alta, California. E.P.A. is one of the last cities in the Bay Area with affordable housing. In contrast, it is surrounded by some of the wealthiest communities in the United States. These poignant images present to the viewer Darius’s wish to capture the E.P.A. of his youth before it, too, changes.
Join LaCasce Family Professor of Natural Sciences 
Professor Erin Johnson’s Introduction to Digital Media class partnered with the Ramp Gallery to exhibit student work created over the course of the fall semester. In the class, students gain the technical and conceptual skills, as well as the art historical background, necessary to create video art.
The Ramp Gallery on the basement level of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library presents the student-curated exhibit of student work, Sensing Time: Videos from Introduction to Digital Media. This is a semester-long screening of experimental video artworks.
This exhibition explores how typography, illustration, printing, binding, and other physical aspects of the book bear witness to cultural, social and historical innovation. Second floor gallery, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library.