Virtual Lecture: Historic First Editions in African American Literature

Club member Alvin Patrick, a CBS News Executive Producer, has amassed over 2,000 books during 30 years of collecting. He will discuss highlights of his first editions of African American literature dating back to 1817, and their importance to the story of Black people in America. Among his prized titles are Toussaint L’Ouverture: Biography and Autobiography (1863, coauthored with John Relly Beard), W. E. B. DuBois’s The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Ann Petry’s The Street (1946), Gwendolyn Brooks’ Annie Allen (1949), and Arthur Ashe Jr.’s three-volume A Hard Road to Glory (1988). A Grolier member since 2023, Alvin is a graduate and trustee of Marist College; an award-winning journalist; Executive Producer, CBS News Streaming Originals and Race & Culture; and a member of the President’s Council of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and The National Press Club in Washington, D.C.