Wherever we are on calendar, books open windows to past
February has been observed as Black History Month for decades, starting in the 1970s. This observance reminds us of the importance of lives and stories that were overlooked.
Staff members of the UCF Libraries at the University of Central Florida have compiled a list of titles by or about African Americans. Here are a few of their selections.
James Baldwin,“Go Tell It on the Mountain” (1 9 5 3 ). “With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, Baldwin chronicles a 1 4 -year-old boy’s discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1 9 3 5 .” The result has become an American classic. (Jada Reyes, Research & Information Services)
David W. Blight, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” (2 0 1 8 ) Hailed by historian Eric Foner as “a consistently engrossing book that is likely to remain the definitive account ... for many years to come,” this biography tells Douglass’s story from enslavement on a Maryland plantation through his work as an abolitionist and orator. (Christina Wray, Teaching & Engagement)
Valerie Boyd, “Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston”
(2 0 1 1 ). Boyd’s biography “illuminates the adventures, complexities, and sorrows of an extraordinary life,” as it “delves into Hurston’s history — her youth in Eatonville, in the country’s first incorporated all-black town, her friendships with luminaries such as Langston Hughes, her sexuality and short-lived marriages, and her relationship with voodoo.” (Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services)
Lonnie G. Bunch III,“A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump” (2 0 1 9 ).This is “Founding Director Lonnie Bunch’s personal tale of the triumphs and challenges of bringing the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture to life. His story is by turns inspiring, funny, frustrating, bittersweet, and above all, a compelling read.” (Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services)
Harriet Elam-Thomas, “Diversifying Diplomacy: My Journal from Roxbury to Dakar” (2 0 1 7 ).Written by a distinguished Central Floridian, this autobiography tells the story of“a young Black woman who challenged the status quo, following “in the footsteps of the few women who had gone before her in her effort to make the Foreign Service reflect the diverse faces of the United States.” Formerly the diplomatin-residence at the University of Central Florida, Ambassador Elam-Thomas directs a diplomacy program at the university. (Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services)
Colson Whitehead, “Underground Railroad” (2 0 1 6 ) and “The Nickel Boys” (2 0 1 9 ).In novelist Whitehead’s “ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor — engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.” He
followed that Pulitzer Prize winner with “The Nickel Boys,” based on “the real story of a Florida reform school that operated for 1 1 1 years and warped the lives of thousands of children.” (Rachel Mulvihill, Teaching & Engagement)
I hope they’ll inspire some thoughts about books to pick up on Black history and other topics.
Storytelling workshop
The City of Orlando’s Black History Month events have moved online this year, including a Feb. 23 workshop at 6 p.m. titled “Family Storytelling: Keeping Your History Alive” with Central Florida poet and storyteller Valada Flewellyn. She’ll share her story and offer suggestions about how to encourage storytelling in your family. For details and to register, go to Orlando.gov/Events/Family-Storytelling-Keep-your-history-alive.