Bowdoin Exhibit Showcases Student Creativity Inspired by Black Biographies
Brunswick, ME – A new exhibit at Bowdoin College’s Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L) is demonstrating a powerful intersection of creative expression and historical research. The exhibit, stemming from a Black Biography course taught by Associate Professor of Africana Studies and English Tess Chakkalakal, features the work of three students: Janyah Bradley ’28, Katie Tran ’27, and Rebeca Manzo ’27. It will be on display on the third floor of H-L until the end of November.
The course tasked students with engaging directly with historical documents in the Special Collections Learning Lab. Chakkalakal explained her goal was to empower students to “see that they can tell their own stories based on what they find in the archives rather than relying on critical interpretations of this material.”
The exhibit showcases the students’ unique responses to their research. Janyah Bradley ’28 created a graduation cap dedicated to John Brown Russwurm, Bowdoin’s first Black graduate. The cap features a wax-sealed correspondence from Russwurm, a silhouette of the alumnus, and a list of other impactful Black Bowdoin graduates. The red, white, and blue tassel symbolizes Liberia, where Russwurm later became a political leader, while the cap’s interior is lined with newspaper referencing his co-founding of The Freedom Journal, the first African American-owned and operated newspaper in the United States.
Katie Tran ’27 presented an artist book focused on Luke Nicklson, a free Black man in 18th-century Harpswell known for his large fish purchases. Intrigued by the ”mystery of [Nicklson’s] purchases,” Tran crafted a book using butcher and parchment paper to inscribe the known information about Nicklson, and designed the cover with an inked, crocheted fishnet.
special Collections Education and Engagement Librarian Marieke Van Der Steenhoven played a key role in organizing the exhibit. She hopes visitors will be inspired to explore the Special Collections and Archives themselves, noting, “There are infinite possibilities for making sense of historical sources, and the work of [Bradley, Tran and Manzo] are all such inspiring examples of that.”
The exhibit’s opening ceremony concluded with a toast from Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History Brian Purnell, who praised both the library staff and the students for their contributions, stating, “It takes courage, and we are all the better for it.”
