About the Collections

The title for this exhibition comes from the memoir of Arthur L. Johnson, civil rights worker, leader of the NAACP Detroit Branch, and Wayne State University faculty.

"In our civil rights work, Damon [Keith] and I always asked ourselves if we had the courage to do what was required. We felt we couldn't live with ourselves if we had compromised when we should have not."
Johnson, Arthur L. Race and Remembrance: A Memoir. Wayne State University Press, 2008, pp. 148.

The Arthur L. Johnson African-American History Collection of books, videos and non-print materials reflects the history of African Americans as it relates to the civil rights movement in the United States. The purpose of the collection is to serve the teaching and research needs of students and faculty, as well as the Detroit metropolitan community. The collection began in 1993 with a donation of several print and non-print materials from Arthur L. Johnson and the establishment of the Arthur L. Johnson Endowment.

The African American Literature Special Collection (AALSC) was initially focused on literature written by African Americans from Detroit or who wrote about the city. It has developed into a comprehensive collection of works by and about African American authors. Topics include slavery, race relations, Black leaders, performers and athletes, United States history, political activism, folklore, Africa, and religion. There are over 4,500 unique titles that span from 1807 to 2014.

For more on the history of the AALSC, check out this article from the Metro Times.

Sub-collections include:
Dudley Randall Collection
Hilda and Don Vest Collection
Jay Charles Levine Collection in Memory of Gwendolyn Brooks
Ron Milner Collection