Celebrate the life of former OHIO Professor Francine Childs with an exhibit launch party
Ohio University Libraries will be hosting an exhibit launch party for the late Dr. Francine Childs on Saturday, Oct. 12 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Alden Library’s Friends of the Libraries room 319. The event will be kickstarting the digital exhibit titled, "Francine Childs: Life and Contributions at Ohio University & Beyond, 1974-2023.” The event is free, and all are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served and buttons featuring images of Childs from the University Archives will be available.
The exhibit is a collaboration and partnership between the Libraries’ Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections and Digital Initiatives and the Mt. Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society’s History & Research Committee. The project honors Childs and her countless contributions to OHIO since beginning her role as faculty in 1974 until her passing in 2023.
2024 marks 50 years since Childs came to Athens and joined the OHIO faculty, and the digital exhibit is, in part, honoring this anniversary and all her outstanding contributions. Childs is notable to OHIO history due to her great impact on Athens and the surrounding area. She was a trailblazer to legitimize African American Studies as an academic field and the first tenured Black professor at OHIO, among many other achievements.
The exhibit explores Childs’ biography and its intersection with the Black experience at OHIO and the Black community in Athens through five themes: advocacy for academic excellence for all students, especially African Americans; Childs’ deep rooted Christian spirituality; African American history and Black worldview; her unwavering advocacy for racial and social justice as connected to her faith; and her inner joy and love for all people.
Erin Wilson, digital imaging specialist & lab manager, assisted with the exhibit design and layout. She mentioned in an email that this is the Libraries’ first digital exhibit created in collaboration with a community partner. The project demonstrates the value of building relationships between the community and the University, and the potential they have to foster more meaningful narratives.
“The exhibit captures the spirit of an important local figure and documents her nearly 50 years of service and deep involvement as an educator, leader, mentor and friend to many,” Wilson wrote. “Through the telling of Dr. Childs’ story, the exhibit also illuminates the larger history of Black experiences, culture and activism on campus and in the surrounding community.”
Miriam Intrator, interim head of the Mahn Center and Digital Initiatives and special collections librarian, is one of many organizers for the event. Intrator explained in an email that the event will include “a walk-through of the digital exhibit… [and] then attendees will be free to mingle and view the exhibit on their own devices or on provided iPads.”
Some of the contributors and those that helped make the event and exhibit possible will be giving introductory remarks too, including:
Ohio University Libraries Dean Rob Ross; Ohio University Professor Emeritus and Mt. Zion Baptist Church Board Director and Chair, History & Research Committee member Dr. Vibert Cambridge; Reverend Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr., Director of Mt. Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society; and Digital Imaging Specialist & Lab Manager Erin Wilson.
Cambridge led the collaboration and, with his son, Nigel E. Cambridge, wrote the text for the exhibit. Vibert Cambridge mentioned in an email that the project was motivated with a purpose “to share the fruits of collaboration in telling underrepresented stories.”
To learn more about the event, contact Miriam Intrator at intrator@ohio.edu or Vibert Cambridge at cambridg@ohio.edu. To learn more about the exhibit, contact Wilson at wilsone5@ohio.edu.