We’re delighted to announce that Professor Benay has won an Expanding Horizons Initiative grant in Social and Racial Justice for her collaborative project with Cleveland Public Library: “Karamu House in Context: Prints and Power in WPA-Era Cleveland.” Karamu House is the oldest and one of the most important Black community and performing arts centers in the United States and the place where Langston Hughes famously got his start as a poet and a printmaker. In spring of 2025, Prof. Benay will co-curate an exhibition of Karamu House prints at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Together with her colleagues at CPL,  Prof. Benay will also organize a satellite exhibition and public programs at the Langston Hughes branch of CPL, incorporating a much broader community in the dialogue around prints, power, and social justice.

Charles Sallée was a Karamu Artist and the first African-American graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Langston Hughes points to plans to rebuild Karamu House after a disastrous fire.