Atlanta University Center's Special Viewing Of Tupac Collection Canceled

ATLANTA, GA -- A special viewing of original materials from the Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection in the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library set for Wednesday, June 21 has been cancelled, the school said. The viewing at the AUC's Archives Research Center was to be in honor of Shakur's birthday, Friday, 16, the same day "All Eyez On Me," a full-length feature film based on his life, hit theaters.

Shakur’s handwritten notes, diary entries, song lyrics and other personal items are housed at the Atlanta University Center's Robert W. Woodruff Library, which serves CAU, Morehouse and Spelman colleges. SIGN UP: To get notified of more local news like this, click here to sign up for the Atlanta Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.

The library has been home of Shakur's collection since 2009 when his mother, Afeni Shakur, a political activist and former member of the Black Panther Party, gifted his collection to the AUC Woodruff Library in 2009.

“The collection includes more than 25 boxes of Tupac’s work,” says Library CEO Loretta Parham. “Ms. Shakur chose the AUC Woodruff Library because Tupac loved Atlanta. She wanted his work to be explored and used by academics to develop more intellectual thought around her son’s work and hip-hop culture."

“Anyone who considers themselves a hip-hop head or a Tupac fan would benefit from exploring this collection of his most intellectual work,” media and hip-hop scholar Nsenga Burton, Ph.D. said in a news release. “Tupac was a thinker. He was a child of the Black Panther movement. He used his platform, his music, and his interviews to discuss serious, complex issues in a brilliant way.”

CAU plans to develop educational programming around hip-hop this fall, according to Burton. “It’s bigger than the songs you hear on the radio, it is an entire culture that needs to be understood."

If you haven’t seen the Shakur collection, you’d better hurry. Access to the collection at AUC Woodruff Library will be limited after June 30.

Image via Youtube / "All Eyez On Me"