Here are three recommended reads aimed at enhancing awareness of Black history for readers of all ages.
“The Black History Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained” (DK) builds on the “Big Ideas” series’ reputation for the use of authoritative, lucid text and informative graphics to make complex topics accessible.
Featuring a foreword by David Olusoga, British-Nigerian historian, broadcaster and filmmaker, “The Black History Book” examines the achievements and struggles of Black communities across the world up to the modern day, as well as the influence of Black cultures on art, literature, and music the world over.
Using profiles of key people, movements and events, “The Black History Book” brings to life the stories of the early kingdoms of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and Carthage; the powerful empires of the medieval and early modern eras; and the struggle against European colonizers.
Black history and culture beyond the African continent is also explored in detail – including the Atlantic slave trade; the quilombos (slave resistance camps) of Brazil; the Harlem Renaissance and Jazz Age; the “Windrush” migration; Civil Rights and Black feminist movements; and Black Lives Matter.
In “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story” (One World), Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering racial injustice, created the landmark 1619 Project for a special issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Now available in a substantially expanded edition as both a hardcover book and audiobook, “The 1619 Project” re-frames our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative.
The project weaves together 18 essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with 36 poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic and citizenship to capitalism, religion and our democracy itself.
Finally, as a believer in the power of personal stories to illustrate greater issues, I’ll close this column by recommending a book I reviewed soon after its publication over a decade ago. Authors Gwen Strauss and Calvin Alexander Ramsey, and illustrator Floyd Cooper teamed up to produce “Ruth and the Green Book” (Carolrhoda Books), a work of fiction based on historical fact for readers in grades 2 through 6, and inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film “The Green Book.”
Young Ruth was so excited to take a trip in her family’s new car; few African Americans could afford to buy cars in the early 1950s, so this was sure to be an adventure. But Ruth soon finds out that Black travelers weren’t treated very well in some towns. Many hotels and gas stations refused service to black people, and Daddy was upset about something called Jim Crow laws.
Finally, a friendly attendant at a gas station shows Ruth’s family “The Green Book,” a list of the places that welcome Black travelers. With this guidebook and the kindness of strangers, Ruth and her family avoid some of the indignities of Jim Crow and journey safely from Chicago to her grandma’s house in Alabama. Although Ruth’s story is fiction, “The Green Book” and its role in helping a generation of African American travelers are historical fact.
Special thanks to the Doylestown Bookshop (doylestownbookshop.com) in Doylestown for their assistance in preparing this edition of Book Talk!. Stay safe, and remember that “It’s always better with a book!”
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