Introducing Lela J. Sewell-Williams

Before I formally introduce myself, let me begin by stating that I am very excited about blogging on the Sylvette Online! This is my inaugural blog and it could not be more appropriate for me to introduce myself utilizing this technology as we as keepers of the culture textual and otherwise continue to create opportunities to engage community in historical content by "What Every Means Necessary."

With that I say greetings, I am Lela J. Sewell -Williams. I am a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I completed my undergraduate matriculation at South Carolina State University, located in Organgeburg, South Carolina, receiving a Bachelors of Arts in American History with a minor in Black Studies. I furthered my studies at Duquesene University, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, completing my Masters of Arts degree in History with a concentration in Archives, Museums and Historical Editing. Driven by the goal of preserving the African Diasporic experience, I have had the privilege of working in various institutions whose mission is the preservation of culture and history. These institutions include South Carolina State University Historical Collection (serving as the University's first Archivist), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Manuscripts Librarian), Moorland Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, Washington , DC (Assistant Curator) and currently as the Dance Archivist/Adjunct Professor within the Dance Major Program at Howard University.

I am very excited about serving as the Archive Assistant within the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library. I fully recognize this opportunity as a privilege and blessing.

We Want You Back

A year ago today, Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died, ironically, during Black Music Month. I, much like many people my age, grew up listening to Jackson's music. In fact, whenever he debuted a new music video, I went to my friend's house, and we watched it together. It was like going to a premier of a blockbuster movie.

Lately, after reading Rodney Reynolds' column on the famed entertainer, I have been listening to Jackson's music. He was a brilliant singer, even at twelve years of age. His brilliance rises to unheard of hights when he hits that incredibly high note at the end of Who's Lovin' You. He was truly a great singer, a great dancer, and a great enterntainer. With the countless tributes to Jackson that are occurring around the world, I believe people are saying: We want you back.

Surveying the Hill

A portion of Dr. Walter B. Hill, Jr.'s voluminous library was donated to the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library. Dr. Walter B. Hill, Jr. was a commissioner of the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture; the Senior Archivist in Afro-American History at the National Archivies and Record Administration in College Park, Maryland; a member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History; the Chief Historian for the African American Civil War Memorial; and the director of the Modern Archives Institute. He authored: Federal Records Relating to Civil Rights in the Post World War II Era and edited: The Book of Names.

The Walter Hill Collection consists of approximately 500 books and serials. The collection is eclectic and diasporic, containing information concerning people of African descent who live in Africa, the Carribean, Britain, and Latin America. The bulk of the collection, however, focuses on African American history and culuture.

Some of the items in the collection have high historic value for the library: The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., The Book of Names, which includes Robert Jones, an African American who fought in the Civil War whose historic papers the library owns, Federal Records Relating to Civil Rights in the Post-World War II Era, a book signed by Dr. Hill, David Levering Lewis' Pulitzer Prize winning work: W.E.B. Dubois, 1868-1919: Biography of a Race, Shades of Freedom, which was signed by A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom, signed by the legendary John Hope Franklin, and Dreams of My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, President Barack Obama's first book.