Books are weapons Read about... The negro in national defense Africa and the war [and – Vintage Poster Wall Art
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
This vintage poster of Books are weapons Read about... The negro in national defense Africa and the war [and brings a moment of history to your wall. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
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Books are weapons Read about... The negro in national defense Africa and the war [and
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This 1941 silkscreen poster, part of the Federal Art Project's WPA output, urges viewers to "Read about... The Negro in National Defense, Africa and the War" and to remember that "Books are weapons." It casts reading as civic duty as the United States moved toward entry into World War II. The promoted resource is the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History in New York, built around Arturo Schomburg's gathering of materials on Black history and letters. The poster was later shown in a 2003 exhibition on American responses to Nazi book burning at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which links it to the defense of intellectual freedom.
| Created / published | 1941 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print on board (poster) : silkscreen color. |
| Notes | Work Projects Administration Poster Collection (Library of Congress). Posters of the WPA / Christopher DeNoon. Los Angeles : Wheatly Press c1987 no. 272 Exhibited in: American Responses to Nazi Book Burning U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Washington D.C. 2003. · Federal Art Project sponsor. |
| Subjects | Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History--Public relations--1940-1950. World War 1939-1945--African Americans. Reading--New York (State)--New York--1930-1950. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Work Projects Administration Poster Collection |
| Original scan | 986 × 1,536 px · prints to 3 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | 900_Books_are_weapons_Read_1941 |
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