Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. Collection, 1992-2019 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. Collection, 1992-2019

ID: 01/01/MSS00100

Primary Creator: Kennedy, Amos Paul, Jr.

Extent: 20.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

The collection consists of six series arranged by format and size: 1). Prints and postcards, 2.) State road maps, 3.) Promotional materials, 4.) Handheld fans, 5.) Publications, and 6.) Posters. The materials in each series are arranged chronologically by date of the print's creation.

Series 2 contains two subseries: 1.) General and 2.) Bombingham. Series 4 contains two subseries: 1.) General and 2.) Civil rights leaders. Series 5 contains two subseries: 1.) Periodicals and 2.) Event publications.

The collection is described at the item level. The contents of each print are transcribed in quotations, following the capitalization and wording of the prints as closely as possible.

Information contained in parentheses within the quotation marks is found at the top or bottom of the print. Often this information refers to the source of the quotation on the print or an organization involved with the event promoted on the print. For example, “YOUR LIBRARY IS YOUR PARADISE. (Desiderius Erasmus)” and “PRINTERS FAIR (ANNA TEMPLETON CENTRE).”

Text on the background of the prints is included in brackets within quotations. Any information in brackets outside of the quotations indicates design related characteristics of the given print to distinguish it from other prints with identical text. For example, “Food Justice: Community, Local food, Water is life, Fresh Food, Farm-to-Table” [blue and pink].

Date Acquired: 00/00/1997. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Kuba (African people), Smoking -- Folklore, Tales -- Congo (Democratic Republic), Tales -- Nigeria, Yoruba (African people) -- Folklore

Forms of Material: African Americans--Music, American poetry, Artists' Books--United States, Christmas music, Miniature Books -- Specimens, Postcards, Proverbs, African, Spirituals (Songs)

Languages: English

This collection consists of graphic art on handmade paper printed at Kennedy Prints!, Jubilee Press (also Jubalee), or elsewhere by Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. (1948-), an American letterpress printer, papermaker, educator, and social activist. Formats include postcards, posters, state road maps, and hand fans. There is also some additional promotional material for events with which Kennedy was involved. Some items for this collection are individually cataloged and searchable in Primo at the link below. Many are also digitized and available to view online as part of our Digital Collections.

See Administrative/Biographical History and Administrative Information for more information.

Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1948. His father, Amos Paul Kennedy Sr., was a professor of agriculture and chemistry who taught at numerous historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) throughout his professional career. In 1972, Kennedy Jr. earned a BA in mathematics at Grambling University, and went on to pursue an MA in education.

Kennedy spent time in the Peace Corps during graduate school, which gave him the opportunity to teach mathematics in Liberia for 18 months. After contracting and recovering from malaria, he returned to the United States and settled in Gaithersburg, Maryland, taking a position with IBM as a systems programmer. He worked there for three years before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked for various computer firms and revived his interest in graduate school—this time for library science.

In 1981, Kennedy moved to Chicago, however, which once again put his formal academic plans on hold. While working for AT&T, he studied calligraphy as a hobby and took letterpress courses at Artist's Book Works, a small non-profit papermaking studio that opened in 1983. His initial interest in the printmaking process was peaked during a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, where he saw the town’s 18th century print shop and book bindery. After six months of coursework, Kennedy came into his own press and, being gifted four cabinets of type by a seasoned printer, quickly transformed his basement into a print shop. This private press was called Idiot Press, its name changing to Kennedy and Sons Fine Printing once he shifted his focus to commercial printing, and later to Jubilee Press (also Jubalee).

In 1995, Kennedy began graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and studied graphic design under Walter Hamady (1940-2019), also taking courses on the history of African art and Vodún. At this time, he moved to Bayside, a suburb of Milwaukee, and worked out of a studio there. He graduated with an MFA in 1997, and in 1998, became the first Black faculty member in the School of Fine Arts at Indiana University.

While living in York, Alabama, in 2002, Kennedy shifted his interest from books to posters and cards. He spent much of the next decade honing his craft in a series of small Alabama towns while traveling to teach, speak, and sell his work. In 2008, he moved to Detroit, Michigan where he established his print shop, Kennedy Prints!.

Using wood type and hand presses, Kennedy produces large editions of wildly colorful, typographically driven posters on inexpensive chipboard stock. His method often involves overprinting multiple layers of text and making constant, subtle alterations to the color of the inks throughout each press run, making each print being subtly unique. He passionately addresses issues of race, freedom, and equality in his work, often incorporating proverbs and tales of the Kuba and Yoruba people of Africa, as well as the work of Black American poets, such as Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). Kennedy has printed under a number of press names, including York Show Prints, Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers, and Kennedy Prints!

As more and more artists seek to steer away from computer-generated art, Kennedy is often credited with the revival of the letterpress in contemporary and folk art.

Kuba (African people)
Smoking -- Folklore
Tales -- Congo (Democratic Republic)
Tales -- Nigeria
Yoruba (African people) -- Folklore

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Accruals: Additions through 2019 have been processed.

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers.

Use Restrictions:

The RBML reproductions policies can be found here:

http://www.library.illinois.edu/rbx/ReproductionServices.htm

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would damage materials or involve violation of copyright law.

Related Materials: Interview with Amos Kennedy (University of Wisconsin, Madison Library)

Processing Information: https://wiki.cites.uiuc.edu/wiki/display/librare/Home

URL: https://go.library.illinois.edu/AmosPaulKennedyJrCatalog

Box and Folder Listing

Series 4: Handheld fans, 2010-2018

Sub-series 1: General, 2010-2018

Box 6

Folder 1: “I am a FAN of GORDO BASEBALL”, 2010

Folder 2: “Celebrating the tenth annual Okra Festival (Burkeville, AL)”, 2010

Folder 3: “The BOGGS SCHOOL, Grown in Detroit (boggsschool.org)”, 2013

Folder 4: “Feedom Freedom, Grow a garden, grow a community. Grown in Detroit. (feedomfreedom.wordpress.com)”, 2013

Folder 5: “The HOPE DISTRICT, Grown in Detroit (friendsofdetroit.org)”, 2013

Folder 6: “Mount Elliott Makerspace…a village workshop where people make, tinker and learn. Grown in Detroit. (mtelliottnmakerspace.com)”, 2013

Folder 7: “Meredith & Elliott, 17 May 2014”, 2014

Folder 8: “BROTHER, Nature, PRODUCE”, 2015

Folder 9: “GOODWELLS NATURAL FOODS MARKET is a FAN of Detroit Friends Potato Chips Co.”, 2015

Folder 10: “AC’s Selma Sampler Tour”, 2016

Folder 11: “Advancing racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region (The Joyce Foundation)”, 2018

Folder 12: “PROCEED AND BE BOLD (The Joyce Foundation)”, 2018

Folder 13: “East Ferry-Warren Association Community Meeting… (Protect the COMMONS)” [color background], 2018

Folder 14: “HOPE IS INVINCIBLE (Lionheart District Detroit)”, 2018

Folder 15: “East Ferry-Warren Association Community Meeting… (Protect the COMMONS)” [plain background], 2018

Folder 16: “IRON teaching ROCKS to how RUST M B A D (African Bead Museum)”, 2018

Folder 17: “DETROIT FRIENDS POTATO CHIPS”, 2018

Folder 18: “GOODWELLS NATURAL FOODS MARKET: The home of THE FAMOUS POCKET SANDWICH”, 2018

Sub-series 2: Civil rights leaders, 2013

Contains printed handheld fans with names of murdered Civil Rights leaders and the year and state in which they were murdered

Box 6

Folder 19: “Collie Hampton (MURDERED) 1966, Kentucky”, 2013

Folder 20: “Herbert Lee (MURDERED) 1961, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 21: “Alphonso Harris (MURDERED) 1966, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 22: “Eli Brumfield (MURDERED) 1961, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 23: “Nathan Johnson (MURDERED) 1966, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 24: “Clifton Walker (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 25: “Ernest Jells (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 26: “Arthur James Hill (MURDERED) 1965, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 27: “James Earl Motley (MURDERED) 1967, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 28: “Rodell Williamson (MURDERED) 1967, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 29: “Archie Wooden (MURDERED) 1967, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 30: “Ben Chester White (MURDERED) 1966, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 31: “Benjamin Brown (MURDERED) 1967, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 32: “Frank Morris (MURDERED) 1964, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 33: “Charles Eddie Moore (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Box 7

Folder 1: “Gene Brown (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 2: “Rev. James Reeb (MURDERED) 1965, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 3: “Donald Rasberry (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 4: “Silas Caston (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 5: “James Earl Chaney (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 6: “Johnnie Robinson (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 7: “Cynthia Wesley (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 8: “Virgil Lamar Ware (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 9: “Jasper Greenwood (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 10: “Rev. Bruce Klunder (MURDERED) 1964, Ohio”, 2013

Folder 11: “Vernon Dahmer (MURDERED) 1966, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 12: “Isadore Banks (MURDERED) 1954, Arkansas”, 2013

Folder 13: “John Earl Reese (MURDERED) 1955, Texas”, 2013

Folder 14: “Booker T. Mixon (MURDERED) 1959, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 15: “Sylvester Maxwell (MURDERED) 1963, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 16: “Andrew Goodman (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 17: “Preston Bolden (MURDERED) 1953, Texas”, 2013

Folder 18: “Harriette Moore (MURDERED) 1951, Florida”, 2013

Folder 19: “Henry Moore (MURDERED) 1951, Florida”, 2013

Folder 20: “Hillard Brooks (MURDERED) 1952, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 21: “Roger Malcolm (MURDERED) 1946, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 22: “Dorothy Malcolm (MURDERED) 1946, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 23: “Mae Dorsey (MURDERED) 1946, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 24: “Willie Edwards, Jr. (MURDERED) 1957, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 25: “Jonathan Myrick Daniels (MURDERED) 1965, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 26: “George Metcalfe (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 27: “George Singleton (MURDERED) 1957, North Carolina”, 2013

Folder 28: “Fred Robinson (MURDERED) 1960, South Carolina”, 2013

Folder 29: “Clarence Cloninger (MURDERED) 1960, North Carolina”, 2013

Folder 30: “David Pitts (MURDERED) 1960, Louisiana”, 2013

Box 8

Folder 1: “William Roy Prather (MURDERED) 1959, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 2: “Ollie Shelby (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 3: “Willie Countryman (MURDERED) 1958, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 4: “Marshall Scott, Jr. (MURDERED) 1965, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 5: “Robert Wilder (MURDERED) 1965, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 6: “James Waymers (MURDERED) 1965, South Carolina”, 2013

Folder 7: “Marshall Johns (MURDERED) 1960, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 8: “Rogers Hamilton (MURDERED) 1957, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 9: “Ernest Hunter (MURDERED) 1958, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 10: “Mack Charles Parker (MURDERED) 1959, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 11: “Woodrow Daniels (MURDERED) 1958, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 12: “C.H. Pickett (MURDERED) 1957, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 13: “Richard Lillard (MURDERED) 1958, Tennessee”, 2013

Folder 14: “Sam O’Quinn (MURDERED) 1959, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 15: “Albert Pitts (MURDERED) 1960, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 16: “Mattie Greene (MURDERED) 1960, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 17: “Johnny Queen (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 18: “William Piercefield (MURDERED) 1965, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 19: “Robert McNair (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 20: “Oneal Moore (MURDERED) 1965, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 21: “Emmett Till (MURDERED) 1955, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 22: “Lamar Smith (MURDERED) 1955, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 23: “Will Owens (MURDERED) 1956, North Carolina”, 2013

Folder 24: “Clarence Triggs (MURDERED) 1966, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 25: “Adlena Hamlett (MURDERED) 1966, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 26: “Vincent Dahmon (MURDERED) 1966, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 27: “Paul Guihard (MURDERED) 1962, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 28: “Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr. (MURDERED) 1966, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 29: “Carole Robertson (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 30: “William Lewis Moore (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Box 9

Folder 1: “Ann Thomas (MURDERED) 1969, Texas”, 2013

Folder 2: “Henry Smith (MURDERED) 1968, South Carolina”, 2013

Folder 3: “Larry Payne (MURDERED) 1968, Tennessee”, 2013

Folder 4: “Delano Herman Middleton (MURDERED) 1968, South Carolina”, 2013

Folder 5: “Samuel Hammond, Jr. (MURDERED) 1968, South Carolina”, 2013

Folder 6: “A.C. Hall (MURDERED) 1962, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 7: “Ernest McPharland (MURDERED) 1960, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 8: “John Larry Bolden (MURDERED) 1958, Tennessee”, 2013

Folder 9: “Saleam Triggs (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 10: “George Love (MURDERED) 1958, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 11: “Freddie Lee Thomas (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 12: “Joe Franklin Jeter (MURDERED) 1958, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 13: “Ed Smith (MURDERED) 1958, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 14: “Willie Joe Sanford (MURDERED) 1957, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 15: “Luther Jackson (MURDERED) 1959, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 16: “James Brazier (MURDERED) 1958, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 17: “Andrew Lee Anderson (MURDERED) 1963, Arkansas”, 2013

Folder 18: “Addie Mae Collins (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 19: “Roman Duckworth, Jr. (MURDERED) 1962, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 20: “Birdie Keglar (MURDERED) 1966, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 21: “Eddie James Stewart (MURDERED) 1966, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 22: “James Andrew Miller (MURDERED) 1964, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 23: “Nehomiah Montgomery (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 24: “Johnnie Mae Chappell (MURDERED) 1964, Florida”, 2013

Folder 25: “Joseph Edwards (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 26: “Maceo Snipes (MURDERED) 1946, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 27: “Jimmy Powell (MURDERED) 1964, New York”, 2013

Folder 28: “Hubert Orsby (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 29: “Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MURDERED) 1968, Tennessee”, 2013

Folder 30: “Louis Allen (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Box 10

Folder 1: “Frank Andrews (MURDERED) 1964, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 2: “Michael Henry Schwerner (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 3: “Jessie James Shelby (MURDERED) 1956, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 4: “Charles Brown (MURDERED) 1957, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 5: “Thomas Brewer (MURDERED) 1956, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 6: “William Henry Lee (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 7: “Jimmie Lee Jackson (MURDERED) 1965, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 8: “Thad Christian (MURDERED) 1965, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 9: “George Dorsey (MURDERED) 1946, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 10: “Claude Neal (MURDERED) 1934, Florida”, 2013

Folder 11: “Maybelle Mahone (MURDERED) 1956, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 12: “Viola Gregg Liuzzo (MURDERED) 1965, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 13: “Lemuel Penn (MURDERED) 1964, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 14: “Jimmie Lee Griffin (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 15: “Hosie Miller (MURDERED) 1965, Georgia”, 2013

Folder 16: “Henry Hezekiah Dee (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 17: “Jesse Cano (MURDERED) 1965, Florida”, 2013

Folder 18: “Jessie Brown (MURDERED) 1965, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 19: “Willie Brewster (MURDERED) 1965, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 20: “Isaiah Taylor (MURDERED) 1964, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 21: “Joseph Hill Dumas (MURDERED) 1962, Florida”, 2013

Folder 22: “Carrie Brumfield (MURDERED) 1957, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 23: “Wharlest Jackson (MURDERED) 1967, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 24: “Izell Henry (MURDERED) 1954, Louisiana”, 2013

Folder 25: “Rev. George Lee (MURDERED) 1955, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 26: “James Evansington (MURDERED) 1955, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 27: “Ladislado Ureste (MURDERED) 1953, Texas”, 2013

Folder 28: “Bessie McDowell (MURDERED) 1956, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 29: “Clinton Melton (MURDERED) 1955, Mississippi”, 2013

Folder 30: “Denise McNair (MURDERED) 1963, Alabama”, 2013

Folder 31: “Medgar Evers (MURDERED) 1963, Mississippi”, 2013