Black History Month, 2022

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Hannah-Jones, Nikole and others

A collection of essays and historical vignettes that show how the tendrils of 1619--of slavery and resistance to slavery--reach into every part of our contemporary culture.

"The Hill We Climb"  

recited by poet

Amanda Gorman

Beloved

by

Toni Morrison

Still I Rise

Live & Unplugged

by Maya Angelou

Between the World and Me

by Tanahisi Coates

Written as a letter to his adolescent son, Coates shares the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences. This book clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food: A Cookbook

 by Marcus Samuelsson

 Homegoing: A Novel

by Yaa Gyasi

Recommended by Okunyi

Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indelibly drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

(This book is on-order for the SCC Library. It's estimated to arrive during March 2022.)

Becoming

by Michelle Obama

Maya Angelo: And Still I Rise

PBS: American Masters series

This film celebrates Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of her exuberant life during some of America's most defining moments. 

Read: Still I Rise

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

 by Isabel Wilkerson

• eBook 
• e-Audiobook
• Print book in SCC Spokane & Newport: 305.5122 WILKERS 2020

"...Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings." - Publisher

Our Lady of the Nile

by Scholastique Mukasonga

Recommended by an SCC student

It is fifteen years prior to the 1994 Rwandan and a quota permits only two Tutsi students for every twenty pupils. As Gloriosa, the school's Hutu queen bee, tries on her parents' preconceptions and prejudices, Veronica and Virginia, both Tutsis, are determined to find a place for themselves and their history. In the struggle for power and acceptance, the lycée is transformed into a microcosm of the country's mounting racial tensions and violence. - The publisher

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou

Recommended by Angela Smith

The Rose That Grew from Concrete

by Tupac Shakur

 Recommended by Angela Smith:

"... not a lot of people know about this book and a lot of people like his music. This is a book of poems. Tupac’s mom was a Black Panther…his writing is powerful and moving. The nice thing about this book too is that it is in Tupac’s own handwriting on one side of the page and typed on the other."  

(This book is on-order for the SCC Library. It's estimated to arrive during March 2022.)

Cane River

Horace B. Jenkins

Written, produced, and directed by Emmy Award-winning documentarian, Horace B. Jenkins.. A budding, forbidden romance lays bare the tensions between two communities, both descended from slaves but of disparate opportunity... 

 Recommended by Okunyi

Access this film for free using Kanopy streaming videos located in Spokane Public Library's Digital collections. All SCC students and employees are pre-approved for an SPL library card number. Instructions are here, or ask a librarian for help.

The Personal Librarian

by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray

Recommended by Mary

Belle da Costa Greene was J. P. Morgan's personal librarian who became one of the most powerful women in New York despite the secret she kept in order to make her dreams come true.