Jenzabar University

Savery Library was dedicated in 1939. Prior to that time, the library was on the site where Sumner Hall stands. At the entrance to the lobby is a plaque that will tell you something of the life of William Savery, for whom the library was named.

The murals are a special attraction. There were painted by Hale Woodruff, a prominent Black artist, and unveiled at the dedication of the library. There are three panels on the west wall in the lobby; The Mutiny, The Court Scene, and The Return to Africa, which represent the Amistad Incident. What is depicted here eventually led to the founding of the American Missionary Association and Talladega College.

A replica of the Amistad Ship is embedded in the center of the floor in the lobby. It has been a tradition, through the years, that no one walks on the ship’s replica because of its historical significance to the college. A sketch of the Amistad is also found on the bookplate that is placed in front of each book in the library. On the east wall are three panels representing An Underground Railroad Scene, The Opening Day of School at Talladega College, and The Building of Savery Library.

The Murals have been exposed worldwide as historical treasures. Steven Spielberg’s movie, “The Amistad,” is the subject of this incident. In addition to inclusion in a number of textbooks, art books, magazines, etc., they were listed by Southern Living magazine as one of the “40 Best Things to See in Alabama.”

There are currently replicas on the walls of the library, with the originals being housed in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.  The hope is to one day have the facilities to bring them home and house them properly along with the Talladega College Archives, which are currently housed on the 2^nd floor of Savery Library.

On the wall above the circulation desk is the college seal which bears the charter title of the college, Collegium Talladegeneses, and the legend, Pro Christo et Humanitate. On the opposite wall is the epitaph of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, written in 1556 by an unknown author.

The Amistad Murals consists of three panels: The Revolt, The Court Scene, and Back to Africa. They are housed in Savery Library and are known as one of artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff’s best known works. Woodruff was commissioned to paint the murals in 1938 and they have become known as one of his best documented works. After completing a time in Mexico City studying and working with Diego Rivera, the world famed Woodruff went to Talladega and completed a true documentation through art of La Amistad and its cargo. The murals attract visitors and art enthusiasts from around the world.

Mural No. 1: The Revolt

The incident began during April 1839 on the West Coast of Africa when 53 Africans were kidnapped from the Mende country, in what is now known as modern Sierra Leone. They were sold into Spanish slave trade. The men, women and children were shackled and loaded aboard a ship where many endured physical abuse, sickness, and death during a horrific journey to Havana, Cuba.

Mural No. 2: The Court Scene

The case took on historic significance when former President John Quincy Adams argued on behalf of the captives before the U.S. Supreme Court. This was the first civil rights case in America. In 1841, the 35 surviving Africans won their freedom, two years after they were captured. The Mende Association was then formed which later became The American Missionary Association.

Mural No. 3: Back To Africa

The third panel represents the landing of the repatriated slaves on the shores of Africa. Here, the principal figures are Cinque, the missionaries, James Steel with his sea chest, and the little Black girls, Margue, who in later years had a son who returned to graduate from Yale University with a Ph.D. degree. In the background lie their ship at harbor, and a boatload of their party just landing on the beach.

Hale Woodruff’s Other Savery Library Murals

Mural No. 4: Underground Railroad Scene

The history of the Underground Railroad is one of individual sacrifice and heroism of enslaved people to achieve freedom from bondage. Perhaps the most dramatic protest against slavery in the United States, it was an operation that began during the colonial period and later became part of the organized abolitionist activity in the 19^th century, and reached its peak in the period 1830-1865.

While most runaways began their journey unaided, many completed their self-emancipation without assistance. Each decade during slavery in the United States, there was an increase in the public perception of an underground network and in the number of persons willing to give aid to the runaways.

Mural No. 5: First Day of Registration at Swayne Hall

In 1867, Freedmen were poor and unable to pay tuition on the first day of registration. They, therefore, are depicted bartering with their chickens, pigs, barrels of fruit and vegetables, musical instruments, a plow, sugar cane, etc. They are advised by the counselor and curriculum coordinator on classes and what to expect in school. In the background is Swayne Hall, the oldest building on campus.

Mural No. 6: Building Savery Library

Funds raised by Talladega College, individual contributions, a grant form the General Education Board totaling $65,000, a grant from The Harkness Foundation, sale of college land and insurance on a barn destroyed by fire allowed for the construction of Savery Library. Construction began in September 1937, with Joseph Fletcher, a 1901 alumnus, serving as Superintendent of building and grounds and in charge of the construction. He viewed the library as his masterpiece. Talladega students furnished much of the labor, though in a few instances, whites worked alongside blacks.