As Williamson retires, the longtime Hale Center director reflects on his life's work and legacy.
More than four decades after arriving at The Ohio State University as a young graduate student, Larry Williamson Jr. steps down today after 30 years as director of the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center.
A native of Conshohocken, Pa., Williamson's time at the Hale Center and with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion spans eleven vice-provosts of diversity and inclusion and eight university presidents. One of the last contemporary links to the legendary Dr. Frank W. Hale, Williamson took a break from packing up his office to talk about the legacy he will leave behind, what he'll miss about his job, and what he is looking forward to in the next phase of his life.
*Answers have been edited and, in some cases, condensed.
How did you land at Ohio State working with the iconic Dr. Frank W. Hale, Jr., the namesake of Hale Hall?
I was a graduate student in art education, and I had a one-year minority fellowship. After that ended, I went to Dr. Hale, who had a curator of art and graphic designer position open. I started curating art exhibits and working with Rose (Wilson-Hill).
The Hale Center has an amazing collection of African-American art that you helped collect and curate over the decades. How did that art collection begin and what was your role?
I was really going out to people's houses and knocking on doors with a list I had received from ACE Gallery. (ACE stood for Art for Community Expression). I was able to get a lot of artists who wanted to show at Ohio State but didn't know how. It was prestigious showing at Ohio State, and a lot of these artists couldn't get into galleries and other places, so they wanted to be at Ohio State. We were doing a few shows a year at Bricker Hall, and so sometimes the artists would ask, ‘Where are you going to put it—in the library?' And I'd say ‘No, it's going to be outside the president's office.' That really got their attention. I'd say that I personally collected about 80 percent of the artwork, but it was Dr. Frank Hale's name that got my foot in the door. And, to a degree, Ohio State University sells itself.
What do you view as your legacy?
I'm retiring as one of the longest tenured directors of a Black cultural arts center in the country. I know my legacy will be the artwork in our collection. That artwork will be here long after I die, and to me it's one of the top collections of African American art in the country, if not, the best. We have about 700 to 800 pieces, and that's probably about $1.5 million worth of art. To me that's what I'm most proud of as well as the community of artists that helped us to achieve that goal.
And number two, we've had a lot of student workers who have come through here, and I'll always treasure the memories that they have. These are students who are chairs of departments, and doctors, and lawyers who came in as brilliant students but left as exceptional leaders. That I've helped nurture some of the leaders in their field means a lot to me.
You have always been someone who is a friend and mentor to students who work for you and who spend time at the Hale Center. Why was it so important to be someone who students can lean on?
I came from a Black college (Cheyney University) so I understand the Black experience and how important an atmosphere conducive to students' learning can be. When students flunk out, on the average, they don't flunk out because of academics, they flunk out because there's a situation that needs to be resolved. If you can remove that situation that needs to be resolved, then you can keep them. If I had to take extra steps to get that done, well, then that's what I was going to do.
What will you miss about your job?
The interactions. The people. The building. The art work. Just knowing that you are coming in everyday for a purpose and doing programming that you know has a purpose. Seeing students who come in uncertain of themselves and leave as some of the strongest leaders that you know.
What are you looking forward to doing in retirement?
Well, first of all, I'm still looking forward to coming back and working with the art collection at the Hale Center. But I want to get some more time with my family and do some of my own painting and drawing and things like that. I find it very therapeutic. I just want to do some leisure things, but I still want to be involved in the community; we have so many things to strive for and achieve in the African-American community. Retirement doesn't mean doing nothing, it means the next chapter of your life. You still have things you want to achieve and want to do still, but you don't have as many obstacles.
You are stepping down from your day-to-day role as center director, but you have plans to stay involved with the Hale Center. What do you see as your role in the future?
My role will be to work with the Hale Center and the artwork and support the leadership of the Hale Center and of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. There's still an expansion concept out there that I want to help and support. And I want to keep the legacy of Dr. Frank W. Hale Jr. alive.
The Hale Center has a long-standing tradition of hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner for students who are away from home that began your first year as director in 1992. How'd that all begin?
We had two graduate students that didn't have a place for Thanksgiving Dinner so they asked me if they could have a potluck dinner at the Hale Center for a few people. I told them, ‘Look, there's probably some other students who are also in your shoes, why don't you take some flyers over to the South dorms and get some other people in on it'? And so instead of having six or eight students, we ended up with 25 students, and that's who we had at our first Thanksgiving dinner. The next year we had 50, and the year after that we had 100, and from that point on a tradition was established.
In 2013, the Hale Center moved across W. 12th Avenue into Hale Hall going from a freestanding building to a shared space with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Was that the biggest transition for the center during your tenure?
Yes, I'd say so. You know, the transition over here was challenging. I could look out my window and see the space they were demolishing. It was controversial too. I remember Archie Griffin was the head of the Alumni Association and was getting a lot of calls from alumni who were pretty upset. Finally, Archie said to them, ‘Did anyone talk to Larry about this? Don't you think if something wasn't right about what was going on that he would tell the community?' That helped settle a whole lot of people down. One thing that I've appreciated in my job is that the African-American community really trusted me, and I really, really trusted them.
All in all, you've been here at Ohio State since the early 1980s. It turned out to be the work of your lifetime.
I believe that your destination is determined by everything you do and leads you where you're supposed to be. For me, it was being able to go to The Ohio State University and run one of the finest Black cultural centers in the world for one of the finest people in the world, and that was Dr. Frank W. Hale, Jr. to me. And I've loved the people that I worked with both on campus and in the community and, specifically, the African American collective.