Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection, circa 1992-2026 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection, circa 1992-2026

ID: 01/MSS00100

Primary Creator: Kennedy, Amos Paul, Jr.

Extent: 20.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

The Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. collection consists of 15 series arranged by chronologically by year of accession. Series X combines unidentified pre-2011 accessions.

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.

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.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1997

Subjects: Artists' Books - United States, Kuba (African people), Smoking -- Folklore, Tales -- Congo (Democratic Republic), Tales -- Nigeria, Yoruba (African people) -- Folklore

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

Languages: English

This collection consists of letterpress art 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.

Artists' Books - United States
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

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:

Amos Kennedy Digital Collection

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

Amos Kennedy print collection (Library of Congress)

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

Finding Aid Revision History: Revised 03/05/2026.

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

Box and Folder Listing

Series 4: 2015 Accessions

Sub-series 1: Small prints

Box 3

Folder 38

Item 1: “AVERAGE IS A CHOICE. [Fargo, ND] (aj leon)”, 2014

Item 2: “DON’T LISTEN TO ANYONE. (aj leon)”, 2014

Item 3: “DON’T WAIT FOR permission. (aj leon)”, 2014

Item 4: “GIVE MORE THAN YOU GET. [Fargo, ND] (aj leon)”, 2014

Folder 39: “BE A THINKER and DOER”, 2014

Folder 40: “Conscientiously Object”, 2014

Folder 41

Item 1: “HEY! I’M WATCHIN’ HERE. [FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL]”, 2014

Item 2: “I THINK WE’RE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER SCREEN. [FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL]”, 2014

Item 3: “LIFE’S JUST A BOX OF DVD’S [FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL]”, 2014

Item 4: “PLAY IT AGAIN. [FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL]”, 2014

Item 5: “You had me at ‘ACTION’ [FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL]”, 2014

Folder 42: “FREE YOUR MIND and your ass will follow. [THE KINgDom of heaven is within]”, 2014

Folder 43: “FREEDOM is never given; IT IS WON! (A. Philip Randolph)”, 2014

Folder 44

Item 1: “GET SMARTER EVERY DAY”, 2014

Item 2: “GET SMARTER EVERY DAY”, 2014

Folder 45: “Give LIGHT and people will find the WAY. (ELLA BAKER)”, 2014

Folder 46

Item 1: “GOGGLE UP! Science is about to HAPPEN”, 2014

Item 2: “GOGGLE UP! SCIENCE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN”, 2014

Folder 47: “I AM nEGrO!”, 2014

Folder 48: “I AM NOT A MiSFIt, I AM A PERFECT FIT”, 2014

Folder 49: “IF I CAN’T TRUST YOU WHO CAN YOU TRUST?”, 2014

Folder 50: “In a world of TALKERS, be a THINKER and DOER”, 2014

Folder 51

Item 1: “EQUALITY IS A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR BLACKS In theseunitedstatesofamerica.”, 2014

Item 2: “FREEDOM IS A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR BLACKS In theseunitedstatesofamerica.”, 2014

Item 3: “JUSTICE IS A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR BLACKS In theseunitedstatesofamerica.”, 2014

Item 4: “LIBERTY IS A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR BLACKS In theseunitedstatesofamerica.”, 2014

Folder 52

Item 1: “Good schools are good for us, our kids, and our community. (MARGARET WEERTZ)”, 2014

“MARGARET WEERTZ for the GP School Board [VOTE]” on back.

Item 2: “I would like your support to be one of the agents to move our district toward 21st century learning, academically and technologically. (MARGARET WEERTZ)”, 2014

“MARGARET WEERTZ for the GP School Board [VOTE]” on back.

Item 3: “Parents treasure these schools because they are getting something really special. (MARGARET WEERTZ)”, 2014

“MARGARET WEERTZ for the GP School Board [VOTE]” on back.

Folder 53: “PACE IN TERRA”, 2014

Folder 54: “PEACE ON EARTH”, 2014

Folder 55: Pilchuck Glass School mock-up for burnt books, 2014

Folder 56

Item 1: “I LOVE YOU MORE THAN READING”, 2014

Item 2: “WEAR THE OLD COAT and BUY THE NEW BOOK. (Austin Phelps)”, 2014

Item 3: “Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore? (Henry Ward Beecher)”, 2014

Item 4: “YOUR LIBRARY IS YOUR PARADISE. (Desiderius Erasmus)”, 2014

Folder 57: “STRONG PEOPLE don’t need strong leaders. (ELLA BAKER)”, 2014

Folder 58

Item 1: “I TEACH! What’s your superpower?”, 2014

Item 2: “TEACHERS TOUCH THE FUTURE”, 2014

Item 3: “TEACHING is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost TRADITION. (Jacques Barzun)”, 2014

Item 4: “THOSE WHO CARE, TEACH”, 2014

Item 5: “Those who know, DO. Those who understand TEACH”, 2014

Folder 59: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is NOW! (A Chinese Proverb)”, 2014

Folder 60: The wealth of the mind is the only true WEALTH. [SUPPORT The Detroit Public LIBRARY]”, 2014

Folder 61

Item 1: “A good book is the purest essence of a human soul. (Thomas Carlyle, Detroit Public Library)”, 2014

Item 2: “A good book is the purest essence of a human soul. (Thomas Carlyle, 13th Annual Kerrytown BookFest, 13 September 2015)”, 2014

Item 3: “A good book is the purest essence of a human soul. (Thomas Carlyle)”, 2014

Sub-series 2: Mid-size prints

Box 3

Folder 62

Item 1: “VISIT B ELLE IS LE AQU ARIUM”, 2014

“Join the BELLE ISLE AQUARIUM” on back.

Item 2: “VISIT THE BELLE ISLE AQUARIUM”, 2014

Item 3: “VISIT THE BELLE ISLE AQUARIUM”, 2014

Sub-series 3: State road maps—General

Box 4

Folder 1: “GODDAM” Missouri Official State Highway Map, 2014

Folder 2: “POST-RACIAL MY ASS!” Tennessee Official Transportation Map, 2014

Folder 3: “SWEET HOME” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 4: “Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons, is as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son, WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CANNOT REST. ELLA BAKER” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 5: “WHEN machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1967 [RACISM, EXTREME MATERIALISM, MILITARISM]” Louisiana Official Highway Map, 2014

Sub-series 4: State road maps—Bombingham series

Box 4

Folder 6: “50 BOMBINGS OF BLACK HOMES DURING THE 40s, 50s and 60s IN BIRMINGHAM, CYNTHIA WESLEY, AGE 14, 15 SEPTEMBER 1963 [BOMBINGHAM, MURDERED IN ALABAMA]” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 7: “50 BOMBINGS OF BLACK HOMES DURING THE 40s, 50s and 60s IN BIRMINGHAM, CAROLE ROBERTSON, AGE 14, 15 SEPTEMER 1963 [BOMBINGHAM, MURDERED IN ALABAMA]” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 8: “50 BOMBINGS OF BLACK HOMES DURING THE 40s, 50s and 60s IN BIRMINGHAM, ADDIE MAE COLLNS, AGE 14, 15 SEPTEMER 1963 [BOMBINGHAM, MURDERED IN ALABAMA]” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 9: “50 BOMBINGS OF BLACK HOMES DURING THE 40s, 50s and 60s IN BIRMINGHAM, DENISE McNair, AGE 11, 15 SEPTEMER 1963 [BOMBINGHAM, MURDERED IN ALABAMA]” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 10: “JOHNNY ROBINSON, AGE 16, ON 15 SEPTEMBER 1963, WAS SHOT BY THE POLICE [BIRMINGHAM, MURDERED IN ALABAMA]” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Folder 11: “VIRGIL WARE, AGE 13, ON 15 SEPTEMBER 1963, WAS SHOT BY TWO WHITE TEENAGERS [BIRMINGHAM, MURDERED IN ALABAMA]” Alabama Official Highway Map, 2014

Sub-series 5: Publications and promotional materials

Box 4

Folder 12: PRINT! AMOS KENNEDY, JR. & THE FINE ART OF RABBLEROUSERY booklet, 2009

Printed and published by Andrew Steeves of Gaspereau Press for those who attended a conference at Harvard University in May 2009.

Folder 13: Program for “Full of Pepper and Light: Welcoming the Gwendolyn Brooks Papers at the University of Illinois” exhibit at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2014

Folder 14: “LeaRnING ExPANDS GREAT SOULS (Namibian Proverb)” mailer for “Lyrics of My People: AMOS PAUL KENNEDY JR.” exhibition at Kennedy Museum of Art, 2014

Folder 15: “SEE AMOS KENNEDY AND BE BOLD” mailer for Amos Kennedy exhibition at Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2014

Sub-series 6: Posters

Box 24

Folder 1: “CAN ALL YOU CAN”, 2014

Printed by Mary Mortimer.

Folder 2: “EAT WHAT YOU GROW”, 2014

Printed by Mary Mortimer.

Folder 3: “GROW WHAT YOU EAT”, 2014

Printed by Mary Mortimer.

Folder 4: “FRESH FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE”, 2014

Printed by Mary Mortimer.

Folder 5: “SEED GROW [LOCAL PLANT FOOD]”, 2014

Printed by Mary Mortimer.

Folder 6: “WE MUST CULTIVATE OUR OWN GARDEN. (VOLTAIRE)”, 2014

Printed by Mary Mortimer.

Folder 7: “2013-2014 CONVERGE LECTURE SERIES” workshop demo, 2014

Folder 8: “A SEaT at the TABLE, FARM TO FEAST, Benefitting Grow Selma, A Community Project”, 2014

Folder 9: “AIM LOW”, 2014

Folder 10: “Art Exhibition: VISUAL NOISE, THE POSTER IS A DISTURBING ELEMENT IN SOCIETY, AMOS KENNEDY JR., ASHFORD UNIVERSITY”, 2014

Folder 11: “BLACKBALLED: THE BLACK VOTE AND USE DEMOCRACY, DARRYL PINCKNEY”, 2014

Folder 12: “BLUEGRASS & GEE’S BEND”, 2014

Folder 13: “CA$H & CARRY, ONE NIGHT AFFAIR, POSTERS from KENNEDY PRINTS at WORKSPACE”, 2014

Folder 14: “Donald P. Stone’s One Man Play FALLEN PRINCE, A Jazz Riff on the Social Memory of the Negro Rural School Movement”, 2014

Folder 15: “DOWNTOWN fARMERS MARKET, Lafayette Greens Garden”, 2014

Folder 16: “FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL (fairhopefilmfest.org)”, 2014

Folder 17: “FOOD JUSTICE FOR !ALL!”, 2014

Folder 18: “GET SMARTER EVERY DAY”, 2014

Folder 19: “GO GREEN! EAT OKRA! OKRA FESTIVAL, Burkville, Alabama”, 2014

Folder 20: “GOGGLE UP! SCIENCE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN”, 2014

Folder 21

Item 1: “GRAND OPENING, ALABAMA VOICE, FIND YOUR HISTORY, Museum of Alabama (museum.alabama.gov)”, 2014

Item 2: “GRAND OPENING, ALABAMA VOICE, FIND YOUR HISTORY, Museum of Alabama (museum.alabama.gov)”, 2014

Folder 22: “GROW & SHARE THE HARVEST (communityfoodinitiatives.org)” workshop demo, 2014

Folder 23: “HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY, Panel Project: An Outdoor Exhibit, River Front Park”, 2014

Folder 24: “IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT (TAMU-C VISCOM)” workshop demo, 2014

Folder 25: “IN A WORLD OF TALKERS BE A THINKER AND DOER”, 2014

Folder 26: “IT’S USER FRIENDLY IF YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT. (Sarah Khan)”, 2014

Folder 27: “JUSTICE IS A SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR BLACKS IN THESEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA” calendar, 2014

Folder 28: “LaISSEZ LES BONTEMPS ROULER In Selma! [AGAIN], Fat Tuesday”, 2014

Folder 29: “Largest TOGA Party in the World, ATHENS GREASE FESTIVAL”, 2014

Folder 30: “LOOK CLOSER, LAYERS OF BEAUTY ARE EVERYWHERE”, 2014

Folder 31: “NOPE, I CAN’T GO TO HELL, SATAN STILL HAS THAT RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST ME”, 2014

Folder 32: “ONCE AN ABOMINABLE ALWAYS AN ABOMINABLE, Since 1974 (seedandfeed.org)”, 2014

Folder 33: “RESIST (greenhunterenergy.com)” proof sheet in newsprint, 2014

Folder 34: “RESTART, VOTE, APRIL 17” workshop demo, 2014

Folder 35: “SHE WHO PLANTS A GARDEN PLANTS HAPPINESS”, 2014

Folder 36: “Speech to the Young, Speech to the Progress Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III)” broadside of poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, 2014

Folder 37: “THE GARDEN IS THE POOR MAN’S APOTHECARY. (A German Proverb)”, 2014

Folder 38: “VISIT THE BELLE ISLE AQUARIUM”, 2014

Folder 39: “YOU CAN’T OPEN THE GATES OF HELL JUST TO TAKE A PEEK”, 2014

Folder 40: Pilchuck Glass School class list, session 2 proof sheet, 2014

Flat File 2

Item 1: “BEST SERVED HOT: CERAMICS FOR THE COFFEE RITUAL (LILLSTREET ART CENTER)”, 2013

Item 2: “HOW DO WE AS ARCHITECTS STEP OVER THE THRESHOLD Of INJuSTICE AND ADDRESS THE TRUE NEEDS OF A NegLected FAMILY? (SAMBO MOCKBEE)”, 2013

Item 3: “JCSTICE LECTURE SERIES, Bart Lubow, Feb. 15”, 2013

Item 4: “JVSTICE LECTURE SERIES, Dustin Olson, FEB. 22”, 2013

Item 5: “BLACK CLASSICAL MUSIC FAMILY FESTIVAL (FLINT INSTITUTE OF MUSIC)”, 2013

Flat File 4

Item 3: Cardboard shipping box painted with red, green, and yellow squares, 2015