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Spotlight on Black History |
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Make Your Own History: Timeless Truths from Black American Trailblazers
by Joseph H. Holland
Non-Fiction, 158.1 H719M. Collecting motivational quotes, historical contexts and enlightening precepts from Black trailblazers spanning the 18th century to the present, this celebration of the vast breadth and scope of Black excellence spotlights the principles of success exemplified by the lives of 120 Black role models.
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A Black Women's History of the United States
by Daina Ramey Berry
Non-Fiction, 305.48896. Two award-winning history professors and authors focus on the stories of African-American women slaves, civilians, religious leaders, artists, queer icons, activists and criminals in a celebration of Black womanhood that demonstrates its indelible role in shaping America.
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Jim Crow: Voices from a Century of Struggle: Part One, 1876, 1919: Reconstruction to the Red Summer
by Tyina L. Steptoe
Non-Fiction, 305.800973 J564. A vital resource for the teaching of the history of race in America that traces the ascendency of white supremacy after Reconstruction - and the outspoken resistance to it led by Black Americans and their allies. The powerful writings gathered here reveal the many ways Americans, Black and white, fought against white supremacist efforts to police the color line, envisioning a better America in the face of disenfranchisement, segregation, and widespread lynching, mob violence, and police brutality.
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The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride
by David J. Dennis
Non-Fiction, 305.896073 D423M. Pivoting between the voices of a father and son, this unique work of oral history and memoir chronicles the extraordinary story of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and its living legacy embodied in Black Lives Matter, that, taken together, paint a critical portrait of America.
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The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
by Henry Louis Gates
Non-Fiction, 305.896073 G223A. A companion to the six-part documentary of the same name chronicles 500 years of African-American history from the origins of slavery on the African continent through Barack Obama's second presidential term, examining contributing political and cultural events while tracing the significant influence of eminent historical figures.
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The Black Box: Writing the Race
by Henry Louis Gates
Non-Fiction, 305.896073 G223B. Through essays and speeches, novels, plays and poems, this epic story of Black self-definition in America is told through the myriad of writers who've led the way and who have used words to create a livable world—a "home"—for Black people destined to live out their lives in a racist society.
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Lift Every Voice: A Celebration of Black Lives
by Oprah Winfrey
Non-Fiction, 305.896073 L626. Presenting interviews with 50 of the oldest generation of Black Americans, including civil rights activists, hometown heroes, celebrities and many others, this testament to the strength and stories behind these individuals reveals their lives, experiences and wisdom that can carry all of us to a better future.
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The New Brownies' Book: A Love Letter to Black Families
by Karida Brown
Non-Fiction, 305.896073 N42. In 1920, as art and writing flourished during the Harlem Renaissance, W. E. B. Du Bois published The Brownies' Book: A Monthly Magazine for Children of the Sun--the first periodical for African American youth, collecting original art, stories, letters, and activities to celebrate their identities and inspire their imaginations and ambitions. Building upon Du Bois's mission, esteemed professor and scholar Karida Brown and celebrated artist Charly Palmer reimagine the groundbreaking publication with The New Brownies Book, gathering the work of more than 60 contemporary Black artists and writers, including Ntozake Shange, Frank X. Walker, Danny Simmons, and Alice Faye Duncan. Created by and for Black families today, this anthology is filled with inspiring essays, poems, photographs, paintings, and short stories reflecting on the joy and depth of the Black experience.
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Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People
by Imani Perry
Non-Fiction, 305.896073 P429B. Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong's question, What did I do to be so Black and blue? In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world's favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey--an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology. Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as Blue Black. The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon. Poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original, Black in Blues is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, it is every bit as vivid, rich, and striking as blue itself.
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The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon's Enduring Impact on America
by Mark Whitaker
New Non-Fiction, 320.1196073 W58A. Malcolm X has become as much of an American icon as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, or Martin Luther King. But when he was murdered in 1965, he was still seen as a dangerous outsider. White America found him alienating, mainstream African Americans found him divisive, and even his admirers found him bravely radical. Although Ossie Davis famously eulogized Malcolm X as our own Black shining prince, he never received the mainstream acceptance toward which he seemed to be striving in his final year. It is more in death than his life that Malcolm's influence has blossomed and come to leave a deep imprint on the cultural landscape of America. With impeccable research and original reporting, Mark Whitaker tells the story of Malcolm X's far-reaching posthumous legacy. It stretches from founders of the Black Power Movement such as Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton to hip-hop pioneers such as Public Enemy and Tupac Shakur. Leaders of the Black Arts and Free Jazz movements from Amiri Baraka to Maya Angelou, August Wilson, and John Coltrane credited their political awakening to Malcolm, as did some of the most influential athletes of our time, from Muhammad Ali to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and beyond.
Spike's movie biopic and the Black Lives Matter movement reintroduced Malcolm to subsequent generations. Across the political spectrum, he has been cited as a formative influence by both Barack Obama--who venerated Malcolm's unadorned insistence on respect--and Clarence Thomas, who was drawn to Malcolm's messages of self-improvement and economic self-help. In compelling new detail, Whitaker also retraces the long road to exoneration for two men wrongfully convicted of Malcolm's murder, making The Afterlife of Malcolm X essential reading for anyone interested in true crime, American politics, culture, and history.
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At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68
by Taylor Branch
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 B732A. The final installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's history of the civil rights movement chronicles Martin Luther King's final years, covering such topics as the 1965 Selma march for the right to vote, King's turbulent alliance with Lyndon Johnson, and his protests against the Vietnam war.
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Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65
by Taylor Branch
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 B732PI. Examines the jailing of Martin Luther King, the end of segregation, and the growing rifts in the civil rights movement that led to calls for a more violent reaction to racism.
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We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
by Kellie Carter Jackson
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 J135W. Offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women, a noted historian presents a fundamental corrective to the historical record, a love letter to Black resilience and a path toward liberation.
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Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class
by Blair Murphy Kelley
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 K295B. An award-winning historian shows how the experiences of the Black working class, from the earliest days of the republic to the essential worker of the Covid pandemic, is essential to a full understanding of the American story.
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Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction
by Kate Masur
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073. A groundbreaking history of the antebellum movement for equal rights that reshaped the institutions of freedom after the Civil War. The half century before the Civil War was beset with conflict over freedom as well as slavery: what were the arrangements of free society, especially for African Americans? Beginning in 1803, many free states enacted black codes that discouraged the settlement and restricted the basic rights of free black people. But claiming the equal-rights promises of the Declaration and the Constitution, a biracial movement arose to fight these racist state laws. Kate Masur's magisterial history delivers this pathbreaking movement in vivid detail. Its advocates battled in state legislatures, Congress, and the courts, and through petitioning, party politics and elections. They visited slave states to challenge local laws that imprisoned free blacks and sold them into slavery. Despite immovable white majorities and unfavorable court decisions, their vision became increasingly mainstream. After the Civil War, their arguments shaped the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment, the pillars of our second founding.
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Resist: How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America
by Rita Omokha
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 OM6R. Resist chronicles the inspiring story of young Black activists who have fought tirelessly at the helm for justice over the last century, from the 1920s to the Trayvon generation--how they reshaped America, left an indelible mark on history, and pave the way for the crucial work that must be done today. Rita charts the last century of civil rights activism, from the early years of renowned activist Ella Baker and others she inspired, to the first glimpse of allyship in the Bates Seven and a renewed examination of the Black Panther Party, all the way to the current generation of young Black revolutionaries who walked American cities in the wake of the murders of countless Black people. Rita also draws on her own experiences as a Black immigrant living in America, offering a unique and insightful perspective on this ongoing struggle for justice.
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Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
by Thomas E. Ricks
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 R426W. A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter offers a fresh perspective on the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and its legacy today, narrating its triumphs and defeats and highlighting lesser-known figures who played critical roles in fashioning nonviolence into an effective tool.
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Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement
by Elaine Weiss
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 W436S. The acclaimed author of the stirring, definitive, and engrossing (NPR) The Woman's Hour returns with the story of four activists whose audacious plan to restore voting rights to Black Americans laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. In the summer of 1954, educator Septima Clark and small businessman Esau Jenkins travelled to rural Tennessee's Highlander Folk School, an interracial training center for social change founded by Myles Horton, a white southerner with roots in the labor movement. There, the trio united behind a shared mission: preparing Black southerners to pass the daunting Jim Crow era voter registration literacy tests that were designed to disenfranchise them.
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Saying It Loud: 1966, the Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement
by Mark Whitaker
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 W58S. Deeply researched and widely reported, this exploration of the Black Power phenomenon that began to challenge the traditional civil rights movement in 1966 offers brilliant portraits of the major characters in the yearlong drama and the fierce battles over voting rights, identity politics and the teaching of Black history.
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Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965
by Juan Williams
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073. Eyes on the Prize tells the definitive story of the civil rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations continue to be felt today. Companion book to the critically acclaimed documentary and award winner.
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New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
by Juan Williams
Non-Fiction, 323.1196073 W673N. With arresting prose and keen insights (Donna Brazile, New York Times bestselling author of Hacks), bestselling author Juan Williams turns his attention to the rise of a new 21st-century civil rights movement in this highly anticipated follow-up to Eyes on the Prize. More than a century of civil rights activism reached a mountaintop with the arrival of a Black man in the Oval Office. But hopes for a unified, post-racial America were deflated when Barack Obama's presidency met with furious opposition. A white, right-wing backlash was brewing, and a volcanic new movement--a second civil rights movement--began to erupt. In New Prize for These Eyes, award-winning author Juan Williams shines a light on this historic, new movement. Who are its heroes? Where is it headed? What fires, furies, and frustrations distinguish it from its predecessor? In the 20th century, Black activists and their white allies called for equal rights and an end to segregation. They appealed to the Declaration of Independence's defiant assertion that all men are created equal. They prioritized legal battles in the courtroom and legislative victories in Congress. Today's movement is dealing with new realities. Demographic changes have placed progressive whites in a new role among the largest, youngest population of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in the nation's history. The new generation is social media savvy, and they have an agenda fueled by discontent with systemic racism and the persistent scourge of police brutality. Today's activists are making history in a new economic and cultural landscape, and they are using a new set of tools and strategies to do so. Williams brilliantly traces the arc of this new civil rights era, from Obama to Charlottesville to January 6th and a Confederate flag in the Capitol.
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By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners
by Margaret Burnham
Non-Fiction, 342.730873. The director of Northeastern University's Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project examines the legal apparatus that helped sustain Jim Crow-era violence, focusing on a series of harrowing cases from 1920 to 1960.
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Buffalo Soldiers: African American Troops in the US Forces, 1866-1945
by Ron Field
Non-Fiction, 355.308996. The first regular army regiments of African Americans were authorized by Congress in July 1866. These brave men fought not only tirelessly against the enemy, but also against prejudice and discrimination within the armed forces. Their efforts culminated in the integration of the armed forces, starting in 1946. This book covers the history of African-American soldiers, from the American Civil War and their initial involvement on the western frontier during the Plains Wars, where they were nicknamed "Buffalo Soldiers" by their Native American enemies. It then examines their role during the age of "American Imperialism," campaigning across Cuba and Mexico before distinguishing themselves in the trenches of World War I. Finally, it examines their participation in World War II, where almost half a million African Americans fought and died for their country.
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Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo Soldiers in the Frontier Army
by John P. Langellier
Non-Fiction, 355.008996. From the American Revolution to the present day, African Americans have stepped forward in their nation’s defense. This book breathes new vitality into a stirring subject, emphasizing the role men who have come to be known as “buffalo soldiers” played in opening the Trans-Mississippi West. This concise overview reveals a cast of characters as big as the land they served.
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The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
by Wright Thompson
Non-Fiction, 364.134 T379B. Recounting one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history—the 1955 murder and torture of Emmett Till, a Black boy barely in his teens, in barn in Money, Mississippi, this story about property, money, power and white supremacy is still ongoing and implicates all of us.
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On Juneteenth
by Annette Gordon-Reed
Non-Fiction, 394.263 G659O. In this intricately woven tapestry of American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, the descendant of enslaved people brought to Texas in the 1850s, recounts the origins of Juneteenth and explores the legacies of the holiday that remain with us.
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Non-Fiction, 616.02774. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; and have helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Follow along on a journey from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.
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The African American Heritage Cookbook: Traditional Recipes & Fond Remembrances from Alabama's Renowned Tuskegee Institute
by Carolyn Q. Tillery
Non-Fiction, 641.59296 T463A. For more than 100 years, the small Southern town of Tuskegee, Alabama, has been a mecca for African Americans. The Tuskegee Institute, founded by former slave Booker T. Washington in 1881, grew from a fledgling school to become a major center of American progress and education. This unique narrative cookbook traces the history and heritage of Tuskegee through reminiscences, vintage photographs, poetry, journal entries, and more than 200 recipes for delicious appetizers, entrées, side dishes, breads, beverages, and desserts that reflect the diverse and mouthwatering flavors of Southern African American cuisine. The African American Heritage Cookbook brings alive the pride and courage of the thousands of Tuskegee alumni, among them George Washington Carver and Rosa Parks, who have gone forth to change America and the world. Many Tuskegee graduates have contributed memories, vignettes, and classic Southern recipes--including Crab Bisque, Island Soup, Mom's Devilish Catfish Stew, Smothered Yard Bird, Louisiana Gumbo, Creole Rice, Sweet Potato Casserole, Spoon Bread, Peach Pandowdy, and Dr. Carver's Peanut Cake with Molasses. More than a collection of wonderful recipes, The African American Heritage Cookbook is a tribute to the abundantly rich history and civil rights legacy that have made the Tuskegee Institute a landmark and an inspiration.
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The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them
by Ekow Eshun
New Non-Fiction, 920.009296 ES36S. In the western imagination, a Black man is always a stranger, outsider, foreigner, intruder, alien; one who remains associated with their origins irrespective of how far they have travelled from them. One who is not an individual in his own right, but the representative of a type. What kind of performance is required for a person to survive this condition? What happens beneath the mask--what is the cost to the mind and body, to one's relationships and one's sense of self? Searching for answers, Ekow Eshun channels the voices of five very different individuals. Each man a renowned trailblazer in his field. Each man haunted by a sense of isolation and exile. Each man a stranger in his own world: Ira Aldridge, nineteenth century British actor and playwright; Matthew Henson, the first Black man to reach the North Pole; Frantz Fanon, French-Martinican psychiatrist and political philosopher; Malcolm X, civil rights activist and leader; Justin Fashanu, Britain's first openly gay professional footballer. Telling their stories, Eshun pushes the boundaries of genre to capture them in all their complexity, interweaving biography, fiction, historical record, and memoir, sharing his own experiences living as a Black Briton in the art world. The Strangers illuminates both the hostility and the beauty each man encountered in the world, positioning them all within a wider landscape of Black art, culture, history, and politics throughout the diaspora.
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Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy
by Tre Johnson
New Non-Fiction, 920.009296 J637B. A powerful read examining the lack of opportunity given to Black Americans due to structural racism, and how forgotten historical figures and the author's own family found a way to succeed despite the obstacles.
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Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen
by George McCalman
Non-Fiction, 920.009296 M125T. Profiling 145 Black heroes, both famous and unsung, in politics, science, literature, music and more, this illuminating, informative, vibrant and timely compendium showcases the depth and breadth of Black genius.
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Twice Forgotten: African Americans and the Korean War
by David P. Cline
Non-Fiction, 951.9042 C615T. Journalists began to call the Korean War 'the Forgotten War' even before it ended. Without a doubt, the most neglected story of this already-neglected war is that of African Americans who served just two years after Harry S. Truman ordered the desegregation of the military. Twice Forgotten draws on oral histories of Black Korean War veterans to recover the story of their contributions to the fight, the reality that the military desegregated in fits and starts, and how veterans' service fits into the long history of the Black freedom struggle.
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Motherland: A Journey Through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity
by Luke Pepera
New Non-Fiction, 960 P392M. Historian, archaeologist, and anthropologist Luke Pepera takes us on a personal journey discovering 500,000 years of African history and cultures in order to reclaim and reconnect with this extraordinary heritage. He tackles the question many people of African descent ask - Who are we? Where do we come from? What defines us? And it explores how knowledge of this deeper history might affect current understandings of African identity. Through thematically-linked chapters that explore aspects of African identity from nomadic culture and matriarchal society to beliefs about the afterlife and the tradition of oral storytelling, and interwoven with Luke's own experiences of exploring his Ghanaian family history and his personal questions of identity, this is a comprehensive, relevant and beautifully told new history of Africa, and how it has shaped the world we know today.--Provided by publisher.
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African American Almanac: 400 Years of Black Excellence
by Lean'tin L. Bracks
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 B725A. Updated and revised for the first time in over a decade, the second edition of African American Almanac: 400 Years of Black Excellence is a comprehensive and inspiring book that celebrates the African American experience, highlighting the extraordinary people and their profound influence on American history. It covers a wide range of topics, including literature, art, music, the civil rights movement, religion, science, medicine, politics, education, business, the military, sports, theater, film, and television, providing historical facts and insightful essays and profiling the lives and contributions of more than 800 notable individuals.
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Lifting the Chains: The Black Freedom Struggle since Reconstruction
by William H. Chafe
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 C346L. It was 1863. Abraham Galloway--son of a white father and an enslaved mother--stood next to the Army recruiter, holding a gun to the soldier's head. He had escaped slavery in the hold--of a ship four years earlier, fleeing to Canada, then became a masterspy for the Union Army. Now, in the days after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Galloway had returned to North Carolina, becoming the leader of more than 4,000 escaped slaves who had joined him in New Bern, North Carolina. We will join the Union Army, Galloway told the recruiter, but only on our terms. Galloway then laid down his demands: the right to vote; the right to serve on juries; the right to run for elected office; equal pay for Black and white soldiers; schools for their children; jobs for women; and care for their families. In retrospect, the demands seem revolutionary. But not so, given the roles that Blacks were playing in the war. Hence, the recruiter said yes. Within days, 10,000 Blacks had joined Galloway to enlist in the Union Army. Those soldiers--along with nearly 200,000 other Blacks who enlisted--proved pivotal to destroying the system of plantation slavery. Soon, they would inaugurate the quest to create a truly democratic America.
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Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
by Ibram X. Kendi
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 F825. A "choral history" of African Americans covering 400 years of history in the voices of 80 writers, edited by the bestselling, National Book Award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Last year marked the four hundredth anniversary of the first African presence in the Americas--and also launched the Four Hundred Souls project, spearheaded by Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracism Institute of American University, and Keisha Blain, editor of The North Star. They've gathered together eighty black writers from all disciplines -- historians and artists, journalists and novelists--each of whom has contributed an entry about one five-year period to create a dynamic multivoiced single-volume history of black people in America.
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Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
by Henry Louis Gates
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 G223S. The NAACP Image Award-winning creator of The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross chronicles America's post-Civil War struggle for racial equality and the violent counterrevolution that resubjugated Black Americans throughout the 20th century.
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Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
by Michael Harriot
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 H239B. The acclaimed columnist and political commentator presents a sharp and often hilarious retelling of American history that focuses on the overlooked contribution of Black Americans and corrects the idea that American history is white history.
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Black History Is for Everyone
by Brian Jones
New Non-Fiction, 973.0496 J711B. A longtime educator explores how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are. Black history is under attack from powerful forces that seek to excise it from classrooms, libraries, and the popular imagination. Yet its opponents fail to understand a simple truth: the best education challenges our assumptions, helps us see larger forces at work, and gives us glimpses of alternate futures. In Black History Is for Everyone, Brian Jones offers a meditation on the power of Black history, using his own experiences as a lifelong learner and classroom teacher to question everything--from the radicalism of the American Revolution to the meaning of race and nation. With warmth and immersive storytelling, Jones encourages us to delve deeper into our collective history, explores how curiosity about our world is essential--and reminds us that with stakes so high, the effort is worth it.
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To Reach the Nation's Ear: A History of African American Public Speaking
by Richard W. Leeman
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 L517T. Throughout much of American history, African Americans have been denied easy access to most of the traditional modes of effective reform, such as newspapers, legislative assemblies, unions and political parties. Public speaking has thus been one of the most critically important means by which leaders and individuals have reached an audience, enacted or prevented change, and created community. Dating from the earliest days of American history, the African American community has produced many notable and eloquent speakers and has demonstrated a vibrant oral tradition.
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An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States
by Kyle Mays
Non-Fiction, 973.0496 M455A. This first history of the intersection of the Black and Native American struggles for freedom examines pre-Revolutionary America to today’s Black Lives Matter movement and indigenous activism against the use of Native American imagery in culture and sports.
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The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
by Annette Gordon-Reed
Non-Fiction, 973.46. This National Book Award winner traces the history of the Hemings family from early eighteenth-century Virginia to their dispersal after Thomas Jefferson's death in 1826, and describes their family ties to the third president against a backdrop of Revolutionary America and the French Revolution.
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Autobiographies
by Frederick Douglass
Biography, DOUGLASS. The great American reformer of the nineteenth century recounts his life from a slave to a leader in the movements for emancipation and Black labor.
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Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America
by Joy-Ann Reid
Biography, EVERS, MEDGAR. Tracing the extraordinary lives and legacy of two civil rights icons, this gripping account of Medgar and Myrlie Evers is told through their relationship and the work that went into winning basic rights for black Americans, and the repercussions that still resonate today.
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The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Martin Luther King
Biography, KING MARTIN LUTHER. Celebrated Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson is the director and editor of the Martin Luther King Papers Project; with thousands of King's essays, notes, letters, speeches, and sermons at his disposal, Carson has organized King's writings into a posthumous autobiography. The autobiography delves into the philosophical training King received at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Boston University, where he consolidated the teachings of Afro-American theologian Benjamin Mays with the philosophies of Locke, Rousseau, Gandhi, and Thoreau. Through King's voice, the reader intimately shares in his trials and triumphs, including the Montgomery Boycott, the 1963 "I Have a Dream Speech," the Selma March, and the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
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King: A Life
by Jonathan Eig
Biography, KING, MARTIN LUTHER. The first full biography in decades, "King" mixes revelatory and exhaustive new research with brisk and accessible storytelling to forge the definitive life for our times.
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King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside of the South
by Jeanne Theoharis
Biography, KING, MARTIN LUTHER. The Martin Luther King Jr. of popular memory vanquished Jim Crow in the South. But in this myth-shattering book, award-winning and New York Times bestselling historian Jeanne Theoharis argues that King's time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago--outside Dixie--was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice. King of the North follows King as he crisscrosses the country from the Northeast to the West Coast, challenging school segregation, police brutality, housing segregation, and job discrimination. For these efforts, he was relentlessly attacked by white liberals, the media, and the federal government.
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John Lewis: A Life
by David Greenberg
Biography, LEWIS, JOHN. Based on interviews and previously unreleased FBI files, a professor of history at Rutgers University presents the definitive biography of John Lewis's journey from rural Alabama poverty to becoming a pivotal Civil Rights leader and conscience of Congress.
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His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope
by Jon Meacham
Biography, LEWIS, JOHN. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hope of Glory presents a timely portrait of veteran congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis that details the life experiences that informed his faith and shaped his practices of non-violent protest.
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A Promised Land
by Barack Obama
Biography, OBAMA, BARACK. In the first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency--a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
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Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland
by Scott Shane
Biography, SMALLWOOD, THOMAS. This riveting account of the little-known abolitionist, liberator and writer recounts how he organized mass escapes from Washington, Baltimore and surrounding counties to freedom in the north, risking his own freedom to battle what he called “the most inhuman system that ever blackened the pages of history."
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Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad
by Andrew K. Diemer
Biography, STILL, WILLIAM. Establishing the man known as the Father of the Underground Railroad in his rightful place in American history, this remarkable and inspiring story of William Still, an abolitionist who dedicated his life to antislavery work, shows how he helped to lay the groundwork for long-lasting activism in the Black community.
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Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom
by Catherine Clinton
Biography, TUBMAN. A definitive full-scale biography of the legendary fugitive slave turned "conductor" on the Underground Railroad describes Tubman's youth in the antebellum South, her escape to Philadelphia, her successful efforts to liberate slaves, and her work as a scout, spy, and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War.
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She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Biography, TUBMAN. Explores the complexities and achievements of iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman, combining rare commentary with new and public-domain photographs to offering modern insights into Tubman’s role in the Civil War, suffrage and emancipation.
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Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People
by Tiya Miles
Biography, TUBMAN, HARRIET. From the National-Book-Award-winning author of All That She Carried, an intimate and revelatory reckoning with the myth and the truth behind an American everyone knows and few really understand. Harriet Tubman is, if surveys are to be trusted, one of the ten most famous Americans ever born, and soon to be the face of the twenty-dollar bill. Yet often she's a figure more out of myth than history, almost a comic-book superhero--the woman who, despite being barely five-feet tall, illiterate, and suffering from a brain injury, managed to escape from her own enslavement, return again and again to lead others North to freedom, speak out powerfully against slavery, and then become the first American woman in history to lead a military raid, freeing some 750 people without loss of life. You could almost say she's America's Robin Hood, a miraculous vision, often rightly celebrated but seldom understood. With her characteristic tenderness and imaginative genius, Miles explores beyond the stock historical grid to weave Tubman's life into the fabric of her world.
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Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic & Freedom Fighter
by Therese Taylor-Stinson
Biography, TUBMAN, HARRIET. Harriet Tubman, freedom fighter and leader in the Underground Railroad, is one of the most significant figures in U.S. history. Her courage and determination in bringing enslaved people to freedom have established her as an icon of the abolitionist movement. But behind the history of the heroine called "Moses" was a woman of deep faith. Therese Taylor-Stinson introduces Harriet, a woman born into slavery whose unwavering faith and practices in spirituality and contemplation carried her through insufferable abuse and hardship to become a leader for her people. Her profound internal liberation came from deep roots in mysticism, Christianity, nature spirituality, and African Indigenous beliefs that empowered her own escape from enslavement--giving her the strength and purpose to lead others on the road to freedom.
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Madam C.J. Walker: The Making of an American Icon
by Erica Ball
Biography, WALKER. Madam C.J. Walker--reputed to be America's first self-made woman millionaire--has long been celebrated for her rags-to-riches story. In this biography, Erica L. Ball places this remarkable and largely forgotten life story in the context of Walker's times.
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Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington
by Robert J. Norrell
Biography, WASHINGTON. A definitive biography of Booker T. Washington focuses on his efforts to support the cause of Black people in the segregated South by promoting an economic independence and development of moral character in order to integrate Black people into American life and to overcome exploitation and discrimination.
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Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells
by Michelle Duster
Biography, WELLS, IDA B.. Written by her great-granddaughter, a historical portrait of the boundary-breaking civil rights pioneer includes coverage of Wells’s early years as a slave, her famous acts of resistance and her achievements as a journalist and anti-lynching activist.
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by Malcolm X
Biography. In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a society that denies its nonwhite citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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Nobody Can Give You Freedom: The Political Life of Malcolm X
by Kehinde Andrews
Biography, X, MALCOLM. Kehinde Andrews draws on the speeches and writings of Malcolm X to upend the conventional understanding of Malcolm-from his alleged misogyny to his putative proclivity for violence. Instead, Andrews argues that Malcolm X embraced equality across genders and foresaw a more inclusive approach to Black liberation that relied on grassroots efforts and community building. Far from a doomed ideologue, Malcolm X was in fact one of the most important, and misunderstood, intellectuals of the twentieth century, whose lessons on how to fight white supremacy are more important than ever.
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Hoopla eBooks & eAudiobooks
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The Black Calhouns: From Civil War to Civil Rights With One African American Family
by Gail Lumet Buckley
Non-Fiction. The daughter of actress Lena Horne traces the story of her family between two major human rights periods in America, sharing the stories of her house-slave-turned-businessman ancestor, the branches of her family that lived in the North and South and their experiences during the Jim Crow and wartime eras.
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100 Amazing Facts about the Negro
by Henry Louis Gates
Non-Fiction. In an homage to Joel Augustus Rogers' 1957 work, Henry Louis Gates Jr. relies on the latest scholarship to offer an overview of African, diasporic and African-American history in Q-and-A format, including such queries as: Who were Africa’s first ambassadors to Europe? Who was the first black president in North America? Did Lincoln really free the slaves? And more!
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Black Genius: Inspirational Portraits of African-American Leaders
by Dick Russell
Non-Fiction. Intimate, in-depth portraits, interviews, and essays of African-American musicians, civil rights leaders, philosophers, writers, and actors, including Barack Obama, Duke Ellington, Will Marion Cook, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis, Albert Murray, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Frederick Douglass, and Romare Bearden.
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Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies
by Dick Gregory
Non-Fiction. The activist and social satirist who trail-blazed a new form of racial commentary in the 1960s examines 100 key events in Black History through this collection of essays which examine Middle Passage, the creation of Jheri Curl and the Black Lives Matter movement.
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My Life, My Love, My Legacy
by Coretta Scott King
eAudiobook. The wife of Martin Luther King Jr., founder of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and singular 20th-century American civil rights activist presents her full life story, as told before her death to one of her closest confidants.
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The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
eBook, eAudiobook. In this outstanding cultural biography, the author of the New York Times bestseller A Slave in the White House chronicles a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the Black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era—embodied in the experiences of an influential figure of the time, academic, entrepreneur, and political activist and Black history pioneer Daniel Murray.
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The Radical King
by Martin Luther King
Non-Fiction. Features more than 20 works, organized by theme, by the celebrated orator and civil rights champion that highlight his revolutionary vision as a democratic socialist, his opposition to the Vietnam War, his solidarity with the poor and his fight against global imperialism.
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The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
by Jeanne Theoharis
Biography. Presenting a corrective to the popular notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress who, with a single act, birthed the modern civil rights movement, Theoharis provides a revealing window into Parks’s politics and years of activism. She shows readers how this civil rights movement radical sought—for more than a half a century—to expose and eradicate the American racial-caste system in jobs, schools, public services, and criminal justice.
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A Child's Introduction to African American History
by Jabari Asim
Hoopla eBook & eAudiobook. A fact-filled history of African Americans in politics, activism, sports, entertainment and other disciplines traces the slave trade and abolitionist movement through the Civil Rights era and the creation of hip-hop.
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Buffalo Soldiers
by Theia Lake
Juvenile Non-Fiction, 355.008996 L148B. During the mid-1880s, the first black regiments of the US Army were formed. These soldiers served on the western frontier, as well as conflicts in Cuba, the Philippines, and Mexico. They were nicknamed buffalo soldiers, by Native Americans. Despite their upstanding service, these courageous men faced prejudice in their own country.
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Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls
by Tonya Bolden
J Non-Fiction, 920.009296. The Coretta Scott King Honor-winning author of Beautiful Moon presents a tribute to 16 diverse Americans of African descent who helped define history in the 18th through 20th centuries, including Allen Allensworth, Sissieretta Jones and Maggie Lena Walker.
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The Tuskegee Airmen
by Sarah De Capua
J Non-Fiction, 940.544973. Describes the history of the Tuskegee airmen, an Air Force squadron of African Americans who fought in World War II and were pioneers in the racial integration of the United States armed forces.
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Black History Is Your History
by Taylor Cassidy
New Juvenile Non-Fiction, 973.0496 C273B. With sparkling wit and humor--and lots of fun pop culture references--digital content creator Taylor Cassidy (creator of TikTok sensation Fast Black History) takes readers on a journey through the Black history that she wishes she was taught in school. Weaving together research and personal anecdotes that illuminate each trailblazer's impact on her own life, Taylor paints a vibrant picture of twelve figures from Black history whose groundbreaking contributions shaped America as we know it today. From activists like Claudette Colvin and Marsha P. Johnson to literary giants Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou, fashion designer Patrick Kelly, Olympic Gold medalist Tommie Smith, and more, this one-of-a-kind collection makes Black history relatable, relevant, and inspiring, so modern readers can recognize themselves within its pages.
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Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry
by Scott Reynolds Nelson
J Non-Fiction, 973.0496. Combining the story of the building of the railroads, the period of Reconstruction, folk tales, American mythology, and the tradition of work songs with his own personal quest, a renowned historian unravels the mystery surrounding the legendary African-American figure.
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Discovering Black America: From the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-First Century
by Linda Tarrant-Reid
J Non-Fiction, 973.0496. Traces more than four centuries of African-American history against a backdrop of national and world events, drawing on personal journals, interviews and archival materials to document times ranging from the Colonial period and slavery through the Civil War and the Civil Rights era.
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Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America
by Tonya Bolden
J Non-Fiction, 976.684. A chronicle of the wealthy young African-American's rags-to-riches story describes her early days in Indian Territory prior to Oklahoma's statehood, her sudden wealth when oil was discovered on her land allotment and how she was targeted by corrupt and greedy adults.
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Martin Luther King Jr.
by Theia Lake
Juvenile Biography, KING, MARTIN LUTHER. Martin Luther King Jr.'s work in the civil rights movement transformed American and world history. In this educational text, readers will come to understand the significance of King's leadership and his lasting legacy. Historical photographs bring the information to life and sidebars feature interesting information, which adds dimension to the text. An informative timeline highlights key moments in the Civil Rights Movement and in King's life. This book provides a comprehensive look at one of the greatest heroes of American history.
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Rosa Parks: The Making of a Myth
by Samantha Bell
Juvenile Biography, PARKS, ROSA. Do you know the story of Rosa Parks? The history stories you think you know may not be what they seem. In this deep-diving series, readers of How FACT Became FICTION are invited into the truth beyond the stories people tell about history. It includes investigations into what really happened and how the truth was hidden over time.
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Harriet Tubman
by Stephen Krensky
Juvenile Biography, TUBMAN, HARRIET. Harriet Tubman was one of the greatest figures in the movement to end slavery in the United States, but what about before that? What happened when Tubman was younger? What did she do then that led to her being famous later on? Also includes a page for caregivers and teachers that suggests guiding questions to help aid in reading comprehension.
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Nat Turner
by Terry Bisson
Juvenile Biography, TURNER, NAT. A biography of the slave and preacher who, believing that God wanted him to free the slaves, led a major revolt in 1831.
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Malcolm Lives!: The Official Biography of Malcolm X for Young Readers
by Ibram X. Kendi
New Juvenile Biography, X, MALCOLM. Compiling the definitive speeches, sermons, and correspondence as well as some never-before-seen original material, this comprehensive narrative biography of American icon, Malcolm X, will be the definitive reference volume for young readers.
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An American Story
by Kwame Alexander
Picture Books, ALEXANDER. A picture book in verse that threads together past and present to explore the legacy of slavery during a classroom lesson.
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Ruby Bridges: A Talk with My Teacher
by Ruby Bridges
Picture Books, BRIDGES, RUBY. Ruby Bridges shares the tale of reuniting with the first-grade teacher she met after being the first Black child to integrate William Frantz Elementary School, in a love letter to teachers who hold the power to change lives.
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Fighting with Love: The Legacy of John Lewis
by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Picture Books, CLINE-RANSOME, LESA. This compelling and brilliantly told story of the pioneering civil rights leader, whose work and legacy lives on, recounts how he walked at the side of his mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was led by his belief in peaceful action and voting rights.
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Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
by Margot Lee Shetterly
Picture Book, LEE SHETTERLY, MARGOT. A lavishly illustrated picture book adaptation of the inspiring story of the four brilliant mathematicians who were pivotal to the success of America's space program, written by one of their associates, describes how they overcame the harsh limitations imposed on black women in the segregated 1960s.
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Sharing the Dream
by Shelia P. Moses
Picture Books, MOSES, SHELIA P. Sitting on her father's shoulders at the March on Washington, Agnes is awed by the sea of people gathered for the fight for equal rights for Black people, in a portrait of a monumental day seen through a child's eyes.
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Tell Me about Juneteenth
by Kortney Nash
New Picture Books, NASH, KORTNEY. On June 19th, 1865, the last enslaved African Americans were finally freed in Galveston, Texas. Every year, our community comes together to honor this special day. We play hopscotch, eat spice cake, and listen to music, but what about the first Juneteenth? As family and friends recount their memories and stories of Juneteenths past, a young girl learns about the holiday's longstanding history and traditions.
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Maya Angelou Finds Her Voice
by Connie Roop
Picture Books, ROOP, CONNIE. After eight-year-old Maya Angelou stops talking because she believes her words hurt somebody, Bertha Flowers invites Maya to her home and talks to her about language and reads to her, moving Maya to inspire the world with words of her own.
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Hair Like Obama's, Hands Like Lebron's: A Picture Book
by Carole Boston Weatherford
New Picture Books, WEATHERFORD, CAROLE BOSTON. Inspired by the famous White House photography of five-year-old Jacob Philadelphia touching then-president Barack Obama's hair, Weatherford's powerful text--illuminated by Savanna Durr's warm, jewel-toned art--is an ode to all the things that make Black and brown kids beautiful. Young readers will learn about many inspiring figures in Black history up to the present day, gaining confidence in their abilities and their cultural legacy as they learn.
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A Hug Like Michelle's, a Voice Like Beyoncé's: A Picture Book
by Carole Boston Weatherford
New Picture Books, WEATHERFORD, CAROLE BOSTON. From Misty Copeland to Rosa Parks to Nina Simone, this picture book companion to Hair Like Obama's, Hands Like Lebron's is a celebration of Black history and excellence from powerhouse author Carole Boston Weatherford. Young readers will learn about 17 inspiring female figures, gaining confidence in their own abilities and cultural legacy as they see themselves in each one.
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So Many Years: A Juneteenth Story
by Anne Wynter
New Picture Books, WYNTER, ANNE. With lyrical text from Anne Wynter and artwork from Jerome Pumphrey, this poetic picture book explains the history behind Juneteenth celebrations. It simultaneously acknowledges the history of slavery in the US as well as the Black resilience that has led to an enduring legacy of Black joy.
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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