Black Expressions of Dillard University: How One Historically Black College Pioneered African American Arts

The proposed public history project, Within These Walls (WTW), will be one component of a larger exhibit produced by Dillard University’s, Library Archives and Special Collections entitled The Star Burns Bright: History of Dillard’s Theatrical and Musical Arts, Faculty and Students. WTW will focus on Dillard’s historic African American faculty, students and alumni who became prominent painters, musicians, writers, actors and directors among them Adella Gautier, Randolph Edmonds, Ted Shine Frederick Hall, Theodore Gilliam, and Brenda Osbey. This exhibit will also highlight the many art programs, across genres, offered at the university between 1935 and 1970. This exhibit will demonstrate that art education at Dillard was key to student resilience and empowerment in the face of segregation and the racial struggles of the 1930s through the 1970s. The exhibit is scheduled to open at Dillard University’s Will. W. Alexander Library in Gentilly in June of 2020 and will run through September 2020