Items

• Zulu Coconut
  This was a coconut caught in the 2016 (?) Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club Parade, the first parade on Fat Tuesday during Mardi Gras. Zulu is the oldest Black Mardi Gras Krewe, and they deliberately play with stereotypes of Blackness and African American identity through their attire, use of Blackface, and their iconic “throw”, the Zulu Coconut. This specific coconut (each are unique) is painted gold, with the Z symbol in Black bordered with glitter. The Zulu coconut represents a broader story of integrating previously exclusionary public celebrations and forcefully changing their iconography.
• Chronicles I, Prose Poems by Anita Cornwell
  Anita Cornwell (1923 - 2023). The document opens with a dedication to Cornwell’s mother and a short biography highlighting her career as a writer and playwright, followed by the table of contents that lists five poems. They are: 1. First Love and Other Traumas 2. Second Coming 3. Sordid Mansions 4. In Praise of the Foremothers 5. Remembrance of Sister-Love