The Voice for Social Justice and Equality: Frederick Douglass

Last Monday night at 6 PM, Bailey Library hosted a presentation by Dr. Christophas Walker.  Longtime associate of the Frederick Douglass Institute, Dr. Walker spoke of the impressive life of Frederick Douglass, slave, writer, and the voice for social justice and equality. 

As an infant, Douglass was separated from his mother and sold into slavery.  Although illegal at that time to teach slaves to read or write, the wife of Frederick’s first slave owner began teaching him to read. When her husband discovered this, he stopped it; but, Frederick’s taste for learning could not be sated easily.  He became skillful at trading things to school boys in exchange for using their textbooks and furthering his reading skills.

Eventually Douglass escaped to the North and worked alongside Abraham Lincoln during his term as president, addressing the treatment of black men in the army, as well as, slavery.   Frederick spoke out for social justice and equality, was a supporter of women’s rights, and often spoke on behalf of women's suffrage groups.  When Lincoln died, former slave, Frederick Douglass was present at his funeral.

As Dr. Walker continued his presentation, he addressed current human rights issues, such as gender inequality, and domestic violence by sports heroes, making his audience aware that almost 200 years after slavery was abolished, we still are fighting for social justice and equality.

For further information about Frederick Douglass, his life, and slavery, check out Bailey Library’s Frederick Douglass Pan African Studies Collection of 10,000 titles.

Archives ….and all that Jazz

Jared Negley, Slippery Rock University Archives assistant

Jared Negley, former Slippery Rock University graduate, is Bailey Library’s newest Archives assistant.  Negley graduated from SRU in 2008 with a Bachelor in the Arts of Music degree and an East Asian Studies Minor. 

Jared is an avid jazz musician and plays the upright bass.  His freelance jazz playing led him from gigs at the North Country Brewery in Slippery Rock and the Butler Symphony Office, to playing with bands like the Trinity Jazz Orchestra and the Harmony-Zelienople Jazz Band. He teaches private music lessons and taught jazz combo and improvisation with a team of other SRU student assistants at the Slippery Rock University Summer Creative & Performing Arts Academy.  He also taught bass, rhythm section and ear training master classes. 

As an undergrad, Negley spent much of his time in Bailey Library studying and doing group work. He then procured employment as a student worker in the Serials department where he helped patrons locate periodicals and prepared journals for binding, as well as updated holding records.  It was during this time that he realized he wanted to become a librarian with music as his specialty.  Jared also has another tie with Bailey Library.  His mother, Dorothyann Negley, worked at Bailey in the Technical Services Department for 32 years until her retirement in 2010.

In 2008, Jared continued his education at Rutgers University in New Jersey where he studied Jazz History and Research until his graduation in 2010 with his Master of the Arts degree.  While at Rutgers, Negley taught a course on the history of rock and pop music. At the Institute of Jazz Studies in New Jersey, he gained valuable experience as an Archives assistant, working there from 2008 to 2010. 

The Pratt Institute came next where Jared earned his Master of Science degree in Library and Information Sciences in 2012.  During this period he furthered his archival experience with an internship at the Louis Armstrong Archives in Queens, New York.  “I like working in libraries.  I like the idea of giving people free access to information and preserving our history,” said Negley. 

Then, in the latter part of 2014, Slippery Rock University Archives department advertised for an Archives assistant to create an online database for record groups and collections, and to digitize and upload photos.  Jared applied, was interviewed, and offered the position.  He accepted, and the rest, as they say, is history.