Celebrate Black History Month!

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song is by Kevin Young, editor. Across a turbulent history, Black poets created a rich and multifaceted tradition that has been both a reckoning with American realities and an imaginative response to them. One of the great American art forms, African American poetry encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, and protest. The anthology opens with moving testaments to the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion, as enslaved people voice their passionate resistance to slavery. This volume captures the power and beauty of this diverse tradition and its challenge to American poetry and culture. The volume also features biographies of each poet and notes that illuminate cultural references and allusions to historical events. --(adapted from jacket.)

And Still I Rise: Black America Since MLK is by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Kevin M. Burke. The companion book to Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s PBS series, And Still I Rise--a timeline and chronicle of the past fifty years of black history in the U.S. in more than 350 photos" -- "Beginning with the assassination of Malcolm X in February 1965, And Still I Rise: From Black Power to the White House explores the last half-century of the African American experience. More than fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the birth of Black Power, the United States has both a Black president and Black CEOs running Fortune 500 companies-- and a large Black underclass beset by persistent poverty, inadequate education, and an epidemic of incarceration. Harvard professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. raises disturbing and vital questions about this dichotomy. How did the African American community end up encompassing such profound contradictions? And what will "the Black community" mean tomorrow? Gates takes readers through the major historical events and untold stories of the sixty years that have irrevocably shaped both the African American experience and the nation as a whole, from the explosive social and political changes of the 1960s, into the 1970s and 1980s-- eras characterized by both prosperity and neglect-- through the turn of the century to today, taking measure of such racial flashpoints as the Tawana Brawley case, O.J. Simpson's murder trial, the murders of Amadou Diallo and Trayvon Martin, and debates around the NYPD's "stop and frisk" policies. Even as it surveys the political and social evolution of black America, And Still I Rise is also a celebration of the accomplishments of black artists, musicians, writers, comedians, and thinkers who have helped to define American popular culture and to change our world. 

George Washington Carver: A Life is by Christine Vella. Nearly every American can cite at least one of the accomplishments of George Washington Carver. The many tributes honoring his contributions to scientific advancement and black history include a national monument bearing his name, a U.S.-minted coin featuring his likeness, and induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Born into slavery, Carver earned a master's degree at Iowa State Agricultural College and went on to become that university's first black faculty member. A keen painter who chose agricultural studies over art, he focused the majority of his research on peanuts and sweet potatoes. His scientific breakthroughs with the crops both of which would replenish the cotton-leached soil of the South helped spare multitudes of sharecroppers from poverty. Despite Carver's lifelong difficulties with systemic racial prejudice, when he died in 1943, millions of Americans mourned the passing of one of the nation's most honored and well-known scientists. Scores of children's books celebrate the contributions of this prolific botanist, but no biographer has fully examined both his personal life and career until now. 

The Man Called Brown Condor: the Forgotten History of an African American Fighter Pilot is by Thomas E. Simmons. The forgotten true story of American war hero John Charles Robinson, a.k.a. The Brown Condor of Ethiopia, and the commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Corps during the brutal Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935. Simmons brings to life Robinson's success in becoming a pilot, his expertise in building and assembling his own working aircraft, his influence on the establishment of a school of aviation at Tuskegee Institute. More than a biography of a black pilot who became a US hero, this book provides insight on racial conditions in the first half of the twentieth century and illustrates the political intrigue within a League of Nations afraid to face the rise of Fascism. 

New Nonfiction in Honor of Black History Month

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song is part of the Library of America Anthology series and is edited by Kevin Young. African American Poetry is one of the great American art forms and encompasses many kinds of verse: formal, experimental, vernacular, lyric, etc. This anthology opens with moving words about the power of poetry as a means of self-assertion. Poets like Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton, along with activists like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper bring a passionate voice to the resistance of slavery. Fresh, young voices of the Harlem Renaissance like Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen stand alongside their lesser-known counterparts like Gwendolyn B. Bennett and Mae V. Cowdery. The rise of the Black Arts Movement is also represented here with scope and originality. Also included here are many long out-of-print and hard-to-find poems.

Newly elected Vice President Kamala Harris has a new memoir with The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. Covering her life from her upbringing in Oakland, California through her time as a United States Senator, this book seeks to point out the core truths that unite us all and how we can act upon them. Kamala Harris is the daughter of immigrants and civil rights activists who was raised in a community the deeply cared about social justice. Her experiences as she rose to notoriety in the political sphere would become her foundation as she grappled with an array of complex issues and brought a voice to those who had none. In this book, she endeavors to deal with the big challenges that we face together. She draws on her own experience as well as the work of those who have most inspired her to articulate a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values as we face the challenges of our times.

Ben Okri writes the introduction for 20 Years of The Caine Prize for African Writing that has stories which cover the length and width of the African Diaspora. These twenty short stories showcase each author’s unique take on modern African life. This volume contains a jailer’s love poems ghost-written by a prisoner, love blossoming between two girls in spite of the horror of their community, street kids stick-fighting or stealing guavas from the rich, and a dystopian world where women must go naked until they marry. Whether it is a celebration, the marketplace, the bus stop, the ritual, the family, the funeral, or the bildungsroman, the short stories in this collection illuminate the everyday experience in such a way that the reader holds onto it long after the book is closed.

Grammy-winning rapper and bestselling author Lecrae delivers his newest with I Am Restored: How I Lost My Religion But Found My Faith. In this poignant memoir, Lecrae faces the traumas of his past—sexual abuse, physical trauma, addiction, and depression—to emerge on the path to wholeness. He relates the simple transformational steps and practices he uses in his daily life for mental, emotional, and spiritual health. He looks at the personal and public influences that can hurt us—culture, politics, family, church, and personal failures. He also reminds us that letting go and forgiveness will allow a life of creativity and freedom that God means for us to have. He reminds us that “God is near, he hears, and he’s not done with you yet.”

Award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson has a new cookbook called The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food. Samuelsson’s desire to reclaim Black culinary traditions and energize a new generation of cooks has resulted in a book filled with delicious recipes with a spotlight on various chefs, artists, and activists who represent cultures all over the world. The introduction features an over view of the pantry of the African diaspora. Recipes include chilled corn and tomato soup, grilled short ribs with a piri-piri marinade, crab curry with yams and mustard greens, and saffron tapioca pudding. Samuelsson highlights the diverse flavors and influences in Black cooking today as well as those who are creating and innovating the culinary world.

Grammy-winning artist Alicia Keys lays her life bare in More Myself: A Journey. Since Alicia rose to fame, her public persona has contradicted a deep personal truth: she has spent years trying to please others without realizing or honoring her own worth. She started asking questions of herself after holding back for so long: Who am I really? How can I become brave enough to embrace the answer? Part autobiography, part narrative journey, Alicia’s true self is revealed not only through her discoveries, but through the observations of those closest to her. From her girlhood in Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem to the process of growth and self-discovery that almost everyone goes through, this is a complete look at the beautiful soul and talented spirit of Alicia Keys.

Black History Month Continues!

We have been saluting various professions during Black History Month on our Facebook page. 

If you've missed any of them, they can also be found on our Pinterest board - https://www.pinterest.com/wcvpl/black-history-month/

Non-Fiction for African American History Month

The following titles are new non-fiction that record and continue the African-American Experience. All three of these books seek to tell the story of the contributions of African-Americans in the fields of education and publishing; they also seek to inspire future generations--no matter their race--to raise themselves up out of poverty and ignorance.

First, we have Progressive Education in Black High Schools: the Secondary School Study, 1940-1946 by Craig Kridel. This is a catalog of sixteen black high schools that existed in the American Southeast. Between 1940 and 1946, the Rockefeller Foundation's General Education Board funded a study that looked at the instruction and outcomes of these schools. The project was based upon cooperation and experimentation and helped to develop a generation of African American educators who recognized the hypocrisy society showed blacks and, at the same time, display a willingness to engage in the various forms of struggle to educate the black population. Included in this book is Magnolia Avenue High School here in Vicksburg.

The second book is called The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America written by Ethan Michaeli. Founded by Robert S. Abbott in 1905, The Chicago Defender condemned Jim Crow, sparked the Great Migration, and helped to focus the electoral power of black Americans. Hundreds of thousands of copies were smuggled into some of the most isolated and segregated communities in the American South. Abbott himself became known as a "Modern Moses" and was one of the first black millionaires in America. The newspaper's clout helped to elect mayors and presidents, including Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy. Reporters braved lynch mobs and policemen's clubs to report on the state of race relations in the country. Many famous African Americans wrote columns for the paper as well, including Ida B. Wells, Langston Hughes, and Martin Luther King. A moving look at the power of the press to force a change in the status quo.

The third and final book is The Bridge to Brilliance: How One Principal in a Tough Community is Inspiring the World written by Nadia Lopez with Rebecca Paley. In 2010, Nadia Lopez started her middle-grade public school, Mott Hall Bridges Academy, in one of America s poorest communities, in a record heat wave and crime wave. Everything was an uphill battle getting the school approved as well as recruiting teaches and students; not to mention, having to solve a million new problems every day. From violent crime to vanishing supplies, Lopez was determined to break the downward spiral that had trapped too many inner-city children. The lessons came fast: disengaged teachers, wayward students, and the educational system itself, rarely in tune with the already disadvantaged and ill-prepared. Things were at a low ebb for everyone when one of her students told a photographer that his principal, Ms. Lopez, was the person who most influenced his life. The posting on Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York site was the pebble that started a lucky landslide for Lopez and her team. Lopez found herself in the national spotlight and headed for a meeting with President Obama all the while inspiring and guiding those entrusted to her tutelage.

Gale Virtual Reference Library - Need ideas or information for Black History Month?

Available online through the Gale Virtual Reference Library,
the Contemporary Black Biography series provides informative biographical profiles of the important and influential person of African American and/or black heritage.

There are currently 134 volumes to this set and the articles cover persons of various nationalities in a wide variety of fields, including architecture, art, business, dance, educcation, fashion, film, industry, journalism, law, literature, medicine, music, politics/government, publishing, religion, science/technology, social issues, sports television, theater and others.

The Gale Virtual Reference Library is now integrated with Google apps and Microsoft Office 365. Emailing, organizing and saving documents and citations has never been easier! Additionally, you can bookmark, highlight sections and take notes.

To access the Gale Virtual Reference Library, come to our Reference Desk and ask for the password. Then simply go to http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/mag_p_magn1263 on your personal device, choose the volume you want to reference and read away!