Mission and Overview of the Center for Black Literature

Spearheaded by Dr. Brenda M. Greene, the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College builds on the tradition and legacy of the National Black Writers Conference and serves as a voice, mecca, and resource for black writers and the general public to study the literature of people from the African Diaspora. It is the only Center devoted to this in the country.

Through its collaborations with public schools and organizations such as the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum, the Schomburg Center and Black Issues Book Review, the Center serves as a vehicle for nurturing and cultivating the critical reading and writing habits of a cross-generation of readers and writers and provides university, community and public institutions with literary programs such as conferences, symposia, book discussions, author signings and writing workshops.

The Center's intellectual approach to program activities is an integrative one that focuses on the ways in which the literary arts and cultural values inform the work of black writers and the ways in which these works influence the culture at large.