The Paul Robeson Cultural Center at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, announced that it has acquired the personal library of Cheryl Wall. The collection includes more than 2,000 volumes. Dr. Wall, who was the Board of Governors Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English at Rutgers, died last April at the age of 71.
Professor Wall focused on African-American literature, American literature, and feminist criticism. She first joined the faculty at Rutgers University in 1972.
Professor Wall was the author of several books including Women of the Harlem Renaissance (Indiana University Press, 1995) and Worrying the Line: Black Women Writers, Lineage, and Literary Tradition (University of North Caroline Press, 2005).
Professor Wall was a graduate of Howard University in Washington D.C. She earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Jakora Holman, the director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, plans to make the books available to visitors following a fall 2021 public ceremony dedicating the collection in Wall’s name.
“The Paul Robeson Cultural Center works to educate and create discourse around the experience of African Americans and all people of the African diaspora,” Dr. Holman said. “This donation is so rich in different experiences, histories, and legacies of Black people and Black literature, something for us to create discourse around for years to come.”
