Autographed Works by African American Authors Displayed by Libraries' Diversity Committee

In 1996, 83-year-old Rosa Parks came to Atlanta for a meeting of the NAACP.  So great was the respect shown her, a special unscheduled book signing was arranged at a local bookstore, and 500 copies of a book of letters written to her were sold and signed over a period of several hours, as Mrs. Parks carefully inscribed each copy.

One copy was purchased by Michael Crumpton, then working in the store and now Assistant Dean of the University Libraries.  His copy is now on display in the Reading Room of Jackson Library for Black History Month, sponsored by the Diversity Committee of the University Libraries.  The display may be viewed in cases next to the Reference Desk.

Other autographed items in the exhibit include books by novelist Alice Walker; baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron; mystery writer Walter Mosley, author of the Easy Rawlins series; cookie mogul and Famous Amos founder Wally Amos; activist/comedian Dick Gregory; and actors Levar Burton and Chris Rock, among others.  

The books are part of Crumpton’s personal collection of autographed books.  Crumpton says he has been building the collection since he began work with Barnes & Noble in the mid-1990s, and has collected them “because the autograph represents where an author touches his or her own work.”