Black history exhibit opens at U.

A new exhibition of black history at the University opened in the Kamin Gallery of Van Pelt Library yesterday. "We are celebrating both black history month and the 21st year of Afro-American Studies at Penn," said Gale Ellison, Afro-American Studies program coordinator. The exhibition traces the development of the Afro-American Studies program. The gallery also highlights University graduates and faculty, including William Fontaine, the first fully affiliated black faculty member and Sadie Tanner, the first black woman to earn a law degree from the Unviersity. W.E.B. Dubois is also a focus of the exhibition because of his contribution to the Wharton School and his study of Philadelphia blacks, Ellison said. "I thought it would be good to show how African-Americans had a presence at the University and their contributions in developing the discipline of African Diasporic Studies," Ellison said. Ellison was in charge of putting the exhibition together and said that she worked with different areas of the University including the University Museum, the archives and history graduate student Herman Graham, who did much of the research for the project. "We wanted to show how dedicated faculty and students were in creating this program at the Univesity," Ellison said. "What happened at Penn was happening all around the country." "I hope students get a better sense of the history of black students at Penn," Afro-American Studies Director John Roberts said. "We have played an intergral role at the University for many years." Roberts added that with this type of exhibition the department puts emphasis on "public programming" and diversity which he says will attract more students. "We're trying to create programs with wider appeal and a more lasting impact," Roberts said. "This exhibition will be up for a month so that it will be more opportunity for people to see it." "It [the exhibition] is extraordinarily well-curated," said Mark Lloyd, director of the archives and record center. "I think that it is as comprehensive a presentation that anyone could hope for." "The intellectual thrust of it is clear," Lloyd said. "It demonstrates a gathering momentum for an aspect of cultural studies that has been grossly neglected in University history."