Portrait of US Congressman John Lewis with the words "Good Trouble" appearing next to himUpdate: The posters will remain on view through the remainder of spring semester 2023.

The USC Upstate Library celebrates Black History Month 2023 with an exhibit of posters of highly regarded African American and Black historical figures, civil rights activists, and cultural leaders. These posters are on view from February 7 through early March on the 1st floor of the library near the PerkUp! coffeeshop/café.

Three of the posters commemorate "Black Resistance," this year's Black History Month theme as designated by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the organization that founded this annual celebration.  

Additional posters are reproductions of colorful portraits originally created by Mr. Johnson Paints. Arranged alphabetically from left to right on the café walls, the following portraits are featured:

  • Stacey Abrams, American politician, attorney, businesswoman, writer, and voting rights advocate
  • Muhammad Ali, heavyweight champion boxer and civil rights activist
  • Maya Angelou, poet, writer, performer, professor, and civil rights activist; author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat, graffiti artist and painter
  • Chadwick Boseman, actor and playwright, well-known for his role as Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; a native of Anderson, South Carolina
  • Ruby Bridges (as a child), civil rights activist and philanthropist, who at age 6 became one of the first Black children to integrate the New Orleans all-White public school system
  • Ketanji Brown Jackson, attorney and jurist, now serving as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court
  • Amanda Gorman, American poet and activist who became the first National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States in 2017; she presented her poem, "The Hill We Climb," at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden
  • Fannie Lou Hamer, voting, civil, and women's rights activist; in collaboration with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), she organized Mississippi's Freedom Summer
  • Katherine Johnson, mathematician for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) whose calculations of orbital mechanics are viewed as foundational to the success of the first and subsequent space flights by U.S. astronauts
  • Marsha P. Johnson, a key figure of the 1960s LGBTQ+ rights movement in the U.S., AIDS activist, and performer
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and civil rights leader; winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for combating racism through nonviolent protest and civil disobedience
  • John Lewis, American civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman; he was one of 13 original Freedom Riders and served as Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
  • Barack Obama, attorney, U.S. Congressman, writer, and 44th President of the United States
  • Michelle Obama, attorney, writer, and former First Lady of the United States
  • Rosa Parks, long-time civil rights activist, well-known for her pivotal role in the 1955-56 Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott
  • Tupac Shakur, American rapper and actor

Who did we miss? Thousands! There are so many important people and events in Black and African American history and culture. These posters offer only a sampling of the rich tapestry of Black and African American resistance, persistence, and success.