Walt Whitman Art and Poetry Center, Camden City, NJ

Sadly, I haven't visited the Whitman Center since I was a student back in the early 80's at Rutgers the State University in Camden. Actually I had a show there of paper sculpture during that time and I remember how beautiful that building was with a gorgeous mosaic in front that was created during the WPA in the 1930's. Anyhow I was just visiting Hoag Levins' HistoricCamdenCounty.com web site looking for a post from 2005 about the old cemeteries of Camden and I ran across this:

The second-floor gallery of the 1918 is hung with paintings, illustrations, fabric works, constructions and artifacts that cover a broad arc of African-American history and lore. They will remain on display through Oct. 3 and may be visited between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Tuesday through Friday. Admission is free. The exhibit is sponsored by the Walt Whitman Arts Center, the William Still Underground Railroad Foundation and the Camden County Historical Society.

Hoag Levins is a brilliant researcher/writer and I always enjoy his writings on Camden History. In fact, the cemetery piece I referred to in the beginning of this post was so intriguing that I went to find most of the cemeteries he wrote about! There are so many stories buried in this often forgotten paces and Hoag has helped to bring them back into the light!

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com