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 8: 2020 Accession

Sub-series 1: Small prints

Box 8

Folder 1: “aLWaYS TAKE ACTION (Charlottesville City Schools)”, 2019

Folder 2: “Be Nice (Charlottesville City Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 3: “DIVERSITY means EVERYBODY. (Charlottesville City Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 4: “EVERYONE’S DiFfERenT (Charlottesville City Schools)”, 2019

Folder 5: “Life is FUN (Charlottesville City Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 6: “PEACE IS KEY (Charlottesville City School)”, 2019

Folder 7: “racism is Bad (Charlottesville City Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 8: “SPEAK it into existence (Charlottesville City Schools)”, 2019

Folder 9: “TIME IS expensive. (Charlottesville City Schools)”, 2019

Folder 10: “TRY HARD (Charlottesville City Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 11: “You should be YOU (Charlottesville City Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 12: “and THIS TOO ShaLL PASS (Albemarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 13: “Be YOU (Albemarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 14: “Live LIFE one day at a TIME (Albemarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 15: “SCHOOL IS BORING (Albemarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 16: “STAY OUT of the Drama (Albermarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 17: “there is HOpE (Albemarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 18: “YOU GOT THIS (Albemarle County Public Schools)”, 2019

Folder 19

Item 1: “You learned to deal with other people in society, so in that respect, I think it was GOOD. (LANCE NEWMAN)”, 2019

Item 2: “You learned to deal with other people in society, so in that respect, I think it was GOOD. (LANCE NEWMAN) APS DESEGREGATION, A 60th Anniversary Tribute”, 2019

“The four students are…” on back.

Item 3: “You learned to deal with other people in society, so in that respect, I think it was GOOD. (LANCE NEWMAN) APS DESEGREGATION, A 60th Anniversary Tribute”, 2019

“The four students are…” on back.

Folder 20: “Culture, Community, & Commerce (Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses)”, 2019

Folder 21: “EQUALITY LIVES HERE (Grand Rapids Public Library)”, 2019

Folder 22: “FiNE ARTS ain’t just for the privileged. (Muse GR)”, 2019

Folder 23: “Healthcare Access Is A Human Right (The Grand Rapids Red Project)”, 2019

Folder 24: “KNOW YOUR HISTORY (Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives)”, 2019

Folder 25: “Opportunity of Racial Equity (Grand Rapids Urban League)”, 2019

Folder 26: “Since 1998 empowering our LGBTQ community (Grand Rapids Pride Center)”, 2019

Folder 27: “Transformation happens at the pace of relationships (Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation)”, 2019

Folder 28

Item 1: “ART is a verb. (uica)”, 2019

Item 2: “Breaching the Margins (uica)”, 2019

Item 3: “challenge the dominant narrative (uica)”, 2019

Folder 29: “For some, artistic expression is the only voice we have. (Sue Dekraker) DisArt”, 2019

Folder 30: “Get more BUTTS on bikes. (The Spoke Folks)”, 2019

Folder 31: “Good Food. Transparency. Stewardship. Sense of Place. (Fulton Street Farmers Market)”, 2019

Folder 32: “HEALTHY comes in all COLORS (Malamiah Juice Bar)”, 2019

Folder 33: “Heartside Ministry bringing hope and healing to those who have neither. (Heartside Ministry)”, 2019

Folder 34: “HOUSING, RE-ImagiNED (Dwelling Place)”, 2019

Folder 35: “I AM RESILIENT, LIKE MY ROOTS. (Resilient Roots)”, 2019

Folder 36: “NUESTROS VECINOS (Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities)”, 2019

Folder 37: “Place making means we belong here, TOO. (Latino Community Coalition)”, 2019

Folder 38: “Preserve our way of life and the welfare of our PEOPLE (Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians)”, 2019

Folder 39: “A strong West Michigan depends on strong kids. (Kid’s Food Basket)”, 2019

Folder 40: “ANISHINAABE NDAW (Anishinaabe Circle)”, 2019

Folder 41: “Empowerment through education and awareness (Urban Roots)”, 2019

Folder 42: “Giving a voice to the silenced. (The Diatribe)”, 2019

Folder 43: “GROWING JUSTICE (Our Kitchen Table)”, 2019

Folder 44: “IMPACT by design. (West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology)”, 2019

Folder 45: “One on one reading and writing support. (Creative Youth Center)”, 2019

Folder 46: “SPREAD welcome (Treetops Collective)”, 2019

Folder 47: “Strong Relationships. Resilient People (Arbor Circle)”, 2019

Folder 48: “TaLeNT Lives HERE. (Urban Core Collective)”, 2019

Folder 49: “A nation may lose its liberties and be a century in finding it out. (John M. Langston)”, 2019

Folder 50: “ARISTOLOGY”, 2019

Folder 51: “Be kind to everybody, make art, and fight the power. (Colson Whitehead)”, 2019

Folder 52: “Big Sexy (Andy Weertz)”, 2019

Folder 53: “CHOOSE COURAGE OVER COMFORT”, 2019

Folder 54: “Come & Celebrate the birthdays of Tut Riddick and John Roby [Party TIME]”, 2019

Folder 55: “Douglass Park, Fairview, Fort Barnard, Nauck, Nauck Heights, West Nauck, The original adjoining subdivisions of Nauck”, 2019

Folder 56: “El estado opresor es un macho violador!”, 2019

Folder 57: “I FOLLOW DREAMS, NOT ORDERS”, 2019

Folder 58: “FIRST, we are HUMAN”, 2019

Folder 59: “GOVERNMENT people helping people”, 2019

Folder 60

Item 1: “I am sPecial in A SPECiAL WaY”, 2019

Item 2: “I am SPECIAL in a special way”, 2019

Folder 61: “I don’t want a job. I want MONEY”, 2019

Folder 62: “I used to be indecisive, Now I am not sure”, 2019

Folder 63

Item 1: “If you are rich, money works for you. If you are poor, you work for money”, 2019

Item 2: “If you are rich, money works for you. If you are poor, you work for money”, 2019

Folder 64

Item 1: “Just as sewing connects fabric to make clothes, Marilyn connected people to make community (Marilyn Ryburn Gordon, 11 June 1937-13 May 2019)”, 2019

Item 2: “Just as sewing connects fabric to make clothes, Marilyn connected people to make community (Marilyn Ryburn Gordon, 11 June 1937-13 May 2019)”, 2019

Folder 65

Item 1: “NOBODY can live YouR DrEamS”, 2019

Item 2: “NOBODY can live your DREAMS”, 2019

Folder 66

Item 1: “People will swallow a lie but spit out the TRUTH”, 2019

Item 2: “People will swallow a lie but spit out the TRUTH”, 2019

Folder 67: “The problem isn’t racism. The problem is CAPITALISM”, 2019

Folder 68: “The struggle is eternal. The tribe increases. Somebody else carries on. (Ella Baker)”, 2019

Folder 69: “To design is to influence people. (Mike Monteiro)”, 2019

Folder 70: “TYPE, PUNCH, MATRIX”, 2019

Folder 71: “VOTE 2020”, 2019

Folder 72: “WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?”, 2019

Folder 73: “You cannot unsay BAD words”, 2019

Sub-series 2: State road maps

Box 8

Folder 74: “400 years of OPPRESSION” New Jersey Official State Map, 2019

Folder 75: “PALESTINIANS ARE INDIGENOUS” Georgia Official Highway and Transportation Map, 2019

Folder 76: “SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVE TLAIB” Michigan State Transportation Map, 2019

Sub-series 3: Publications and promotional materials

Box 8

Folder 77: “GADZOOK!” mailer for exhibit and events involving Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, 2019

Folder 78: “MSU Notstock” flyer for Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.,Paul Kreizenbeck, Calvin Laituri, and Lisa York poster sale, 2019

Folder 79: “Tabook 8” event schedule (in Czech), 2019

Folder 80

Item 1: Program for “Art in Action: Herblock and Fellow Artists Respond to Their Times” exhibit featuring the work of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. at the Library of Congress, 2019

Item 2: Program for “Art in Action: Herblock and Fellow Artists Respond to Their Times” exhibit featuring the work of Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. at the Library of Congress, 2019

Box 17

Folder 11: C-Ville (Charlottesville’s News and Arts Weekly) newspaper, 2019

Includes “Movable type: Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. gathers community voices with his letterpress” by Erin O’Hare.

Sub-series 4: Posters

Box 29

Folder 1: “Business rEFLECTIONS Call for Illustrators & Writers—We can DO MORE 2GETHER! (www.ppna.org/news/business-reflect!ons-call-for-writers-illustrators)”, 2016

Folder 2: “EVEN THOUGH I’M QUIET AND TIMID I HAVE LOUD AND BOLD THOUGHTS (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 3: “I HAVE STRUGGLED (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 4: “IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S RIGHT GO WITH YOUR HEART (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 5: “KINDNESS AND YOUR BEST SELF EVEN IN ALL SEASONS (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 6: “MY GRANDPA SAYS YOU CAN BE A STRONG MAN OR A SMART ONE, I THINK HE’S BOTH (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 7: “SOMETIMES STUFF DON’T EXIST (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 8: “STOP GIVING US HOMEWORK (Albemarle County Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 9: “I KNOW WHO I AM WITHOUT ANYONE THERE TO TELL ME (Charlottesville City Public Schools)", 2019

Folder 10: “A NATION MAY LOSE ITS LIBERTIES AND BE A CENTURY IN FINDING IT OUT. (John M. Langston)", 2019

Folder 11: “AC’s SELMA Sample Tour, ‘a little taste of this 12 layered cake I call home", 2019

Folder 12: “apk—IN COMMEMORATION OF THE RESIDENCY OF AMOS PAUL KENNEDY, JR. AT WELLS COLLEGE, APRIL 2019", 2019

Folder 13: “BE HeARD! BE SEEN! BE YOU! (Minot State University)", 2019

Folder 14: “BIMA presents DOG EAR—A weekend celebration of Artist’s Books, Print Works & Paper Arts at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (biartmuseum.org)", 2019

Folder 15

Item 1: “COMMUNITY CANNOT LONG FEED ON ITSELF, IT CAN ONLY; FLORISH WITH THE COMING OF OTHERS FROM BEYOND: THEIR UNKNOWN AND UNDISCOVERED SISTERS & BROTHERS. (Howard Thurman, a civil rights theologian) Urban Warrior Women – Printers Camp 2019", 2019

Item 2: “COMMUNITY CANNOT LONG FEED ON ITSELF, IT CAN ONLY; FLORISH WITH THE COMING OF OTHERS FROM BEYOND: THEIR UNKNOWN AND UNDISCOVERED SISTERS & BROTHERS. (Howard Thurman, a civil rights theologian) Urban Warrior Women – Printers Camp 2019", 2019

Folder 16: “DOUGLASS PARK, FAIRVIEW, FORT BARNARD, NAUCK, NAUCK HEIGHTS, WEST NAUCK—The original adjoining subdivisions of Nauck", 2019

Folder 17: “EMaNCIPAte YOURSELVeS FROM MENTAL SLAVeRy—None but ourselves can free our minds (Bob Marley)", 2019

Progressive proof.

Folder 18: “EVERYONE, ALWAYS, REGARDLESS, OF EVERYTHING. (Ross Gay) Printers Camp 2019", 2019

Folder 19: “frealess pErformancEs, audacious aRt, cOllEctive empowerment, VibrAnt CoMMuniti3s, 25 years (Pillsbury House Theatre)", 2019

Folder 20: “HOT FUN IN The SUMMER TIME", 2019

Folder 21: “I led the pigeons to the flag (mondegrEEN), 2019

Folder 22: “I’ll fly away (Albert E. Brumley)” hymn lyrics, 2019

Folder 23: “If cOmE mORNING YOU dOn’t EvEr ReCaLL YouR DReaMS cOMmaNd they make MORE iNDeLibLe Your Life InTO ONE (Ed Bok Lee, Mitochondrial Night)", 2019

Folder 24: “IN THE FUTURE, THERE Be WiLL NO TEXT—WE HAVE DESTROYED THE ENVIRONMENT", 2019

Folder 25: “MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK (Urban Warrior Women – Printers Camp 2019)", 2019

Folder 26

Item 1: “MICA GLOBE COLLECTION AND PRESS AT MICA", 2019

Item 2: “MICA GLOBE COLLECTION AND PRESS AT MICA", 2019

Folder 27: “PLEASE STAY OFF ALL BUSES ON MONDAY. On 1 December 1955, Jo Ann Robinson wrote the text for the flyer calling for Negroes to boycott the Montgomery bus system. That night she, John Cannon, and two students used the mimeograph machines at Alabama State College to print 52,000 flyers. These flyers were distributed to the Negro citizens of Montgomery. And the boycott happened", 2019

Folder 28: “RECIPROCAL” portion of advertisement for city of San Fernando", 2019

Folder 29

Item 1: “SEND MONEY", 2019

Item 2: “SEND YENOM", 2019

Folder 30: “sOMewHERE in THE world TherE is a cishet White man aPOLoGiZing (Melissa Lozada-Oliva)", 2019

Folder 31: “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. (Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967) [RACISM, MaTERIALISm, MILITARISM]” map of the United States, 2019

Folder 32: “WHERE DO YOU WANNA DIE?”, 2019

Folder 33: “WHITTIER—WE believe our NEIGHBORHOOD is better when it’s connected, when neighbors know each other, when those seeking help can get it, and when the feeling of home does not end at the doorstep. We believe our diversity and tolerance and openness that make it possible is our GREATEST STRENGTH. More than anything, we believe that change should not be feared or fought, but engaged as the very means of deepening what is best about us", 2019

Folder 34: “YOU LEARNED TO DEAL WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN SOCIETY, SO IN THAT RESPECT, I THINK IT WAS GOOD. (Lance Newman)", 2019

Flat File 5

Item 2: “The guidelines for the Honorable Harvest” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2019

Item 3: “I’M SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED. (FANNIE LOU HAMER)", 2020