From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Banks, Joanna
(born: March 28, 1943 - died: September 28, 2025)Joanna Banks was a book collector. She was from Louisville, KY, and came to Washington, D.C. in 1964 to work at the Bureau of Public Debt. She began collecting books in 1965 with the Langston Hughes Reader, this was the same year that she quit her job at the Bureau of Public Debt. She next worked for AT&T for 22 years until she lost her job when the company downsized in 1987. Joanna Banks next worked at the Anacostia Museum and was a museum educator.
She began researching African American writers and was a women's book club member. Joanna Banks visited book stores and attended conferences, public readings, and book signings by authors. She also documented authors' visits with pictures and created albums. Joanna Banks retired in 2008.
The Joanna Banks Collection of African American literature was donated to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries in 2018. The collection includes over 10,000 works that cover a wide range of subjects, including women's works, children's literature, cookery, and African American publications. See the PennLibraries webpage (online).
Joanna Banks was the daughter of the late Wheeler and Mary Fawbush Banks.
*This entry was suggested by Nubia Lateefa.
