''Eighty Moods of Maya Angelou,'' a photographic exhibit from Lovejoy Library's Eugene B. Redmond Collection at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (
http://www.siue.edu/), will focus on the poet, educator, performer, and best-selling author Maya Angelou. The exhibit will open at the library Monday, Sept. 21, and will run through the end of October.
The exhibit is a testament to the rich and enduring friendship between Ms. Angelou and Redmond, professor emeritus of English language and literature at SIUE, said Howard Rambsy II, an assistant professor of English language and literature and curator of the exhibit.
The photographs showcase Dr. Angelou socializing with fellow artists, performing poetry, celebrating achievements with friends and family, and entertaining guests at her home in North Carolina. The vibrant versatility of facial expressions, body language and hand motions that Dr. Angelou assumes in the photographs confirms Dr. Redmond's notion about the 80-plus ''moods of Maya.''
Redmond, who was in the vanguard of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, said he has had an enduring friendship with the author-poet. "My friendship with Maya will be 40 years old in 2010," he said. "Maya always called me one of her special brothers. So, I'm excited because we have known each other four decades, and now we will share this ritualed ground together again."
Maya Angelou was born April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, spending part of her childhood there before moving to Stamps, Ark., where she endured the effects of racial discrimination but began developing a deep awareness of the value and values of black folk culture as well as African American artistic thought.
Over the years, Ms. Angelou increased her interest in the arts, taking up dance, acting, singing, and creative writing. In 1970, her bestselling autobiography, ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,'' was published; since then she has authored dozens of other celebrated books.
"Lovejoy Library's Eugene B. Redmond Collection is one of the greatest post-civil rights collections of African American culture ever assembled," Rambsy said. ''It contains hundreds of books, magazines, rare program booklets and flyers, audio recordings and historic posters.'' The collection also contains more than 150,000 photographs of literary artists, musicians, entertainers, supporters of the arts and political activists, which Dr. Redmond himself has taken over the past four decades.
Speaking about the collection, Redmond points out that SIUE is a fitting place for his work to reside because the University has always been his home, first as a student and then many years later as a faculty member. "While I had offers from other places across the country, I felt SIUE should be the place where my papers and, as the Chancellor says, the place where my legacy should rest. I'm excited my collection is here at SIUE because I'm homegrown, a homegrown kind of guy."
Author, literary historian, and arts organizer, Eugene B. Redmond was named poet laureate of East St. Louis in 1976, the same year that Doubleday published his critical history, ''Drumvoices: The Mission of Afro-American Poetry.'' He also is founder of the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club in East St. Louis.