The Levi Watkins Learning Center, (the ASU library) houses permanent and temporary exhibits. The library is free and open to the public, including the Special Collections area which includes secondary and primary historical materials concerning African American history.
Nat King Cole Exhibit
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The Nat King Cole exhibit is located on the first floor of the Levi Watkins Learning Center Library. The exhibit came into being after the University’s purchase of Nat King Cole’s birth home in . . . . Cole was born in Montgomery on March 17, 1919. The family lived in the house until 1923 when they moved to Chicago, Illinois. The Library exhibit contains period furniture for the early twentieth century, including a lifesize photo of Cole, and an Upright and Babygrand piano.
Levi Watkins, Sixth President of Alabama State University Exhibit
The library’s namesake, Levi Watkins, was the sixth president of ASU, serving from 1962 to 1983. This exhibit is located in the library’s entrance, giving a timeline of Watkins’ life and career.” The exhibit focuses on major transformations which occurred under Watkins’ presidency. One of the most important of these changes was the university’s transition from a State Board of Education-dominated body to a Board of Trustees existing under its own authority. Another important transformation during the Watkin’s administration was the institution’s accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Most importantly, during this period, the institution initiated a successful legal challenge to the state’s long-term discrimination against Alabama State University and Alabama A&M University.
The History of the ASU Library Exhibit
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Description: “This exhibit tells the history of the library at ASU from __ to __.
ASU Timeline Exhibit
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Located on the first floor is a timeline of ASU’s history from 1866 to 2012. The timeline highlights the founding of the institution in Marion, Alabama, the presidents of ASU during this period, major educational accomplishments of the University, important athletic victories of the institution, and ASU’s civil rights involvement.
Special Collections Exhibits
The Special Collections area houses secondary and primary sources related to African-American history. Two exhibits are located within this area. They include the Interactive Learning Center – a multimedia exhibit on civil rights activism in Montgomery, particularly connected to ASU. Here visitors can learn about the Women’s Political Council, the Montgomery Improvement Association, student activism, and the 1965 Voting Rights activities at ASU through panels, videos, audio clips, and interactive screens.
The E.D. Nixon exhibit is also located within the Special Collections area of the Library. Known as the “Father of the Montgomery Bus Boycott,”. Nixon was a union organizer and civil rights activist. The exhibit chronicles Nixon’s life as a family man, a community leader, and an organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The E.D. Nixon also highlights his role as an NAACP local and state leader and his involvement in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Interactive Learning Center
Current Library Exhibit
The current Library temporary exhibit focuses on the life of Jo Ann Robinson, the ASU English professor and president of the Women’s Political Council, who on December 1, 1955, two of her students produced 50,000 flyers calling for a one day boycott of segregated buses.
