The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a great place to further your exploration of Black history and culture in the United States. Thankfully if you cannot visit in person they have a large collection of digital resources. The theme for Black History Month 2023 is Black Resistance: A Journey to Equality and the museum has chosen five sub themes to focus on throughout the month. Butte College Library has a huge collection of resources related to Black history as well as all five subthemes. Below you will find a book from our collection focusing on each of the themes.
Traditions of Activism:
Set the World on Fire by
Publication Date: 2018
Available online
"Set the World on Fire, the first book to examine how black nationalist women engaged in national and global politics from the early twentieth century to the 1960s... Drawing on a variety of previously untapped sources, including newspapers, government records, songs, and poetry, Set the World on Fire highlights the flexibility, adaptability, and experimentation of black women leaders who demanded equal recognition and participation in global civil society."
Foundations of Faith:
The Souls of Womenfolk by
Call Number: E443 .W45 2021
Publication Date: 2021
"Beginning on the shores of West Africa in the sixteenth century and ending in the U.S. Lower South on the eve of the Civil War, Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh traces a bold history of the interior lives of bondwomen as they carved out an existence for themselves and their families amid the horrors of American slavery. With particular attention to maternity, sex, and other gendered aspects of women's lives, she documents how bondwomen crafted female-centered cultures that shaped the religious consciousness and practices of entire enslaved communities... Challenging conventional institutional histories, this book opens a rare window onto the spiritual strivings of one of the most remarkable and elusive groups in the American experience."
Power of Education:
Making Black Scientists by
Call Number: available online
Publication Date: 2019
"Gasman and Nguyen explore ten innovative schools that have increased the number of black students studying science and improved those students' performance. Educators on these campuses have a keen sense of their students' backgrounds and circumstances, familiarity that helps their science departments avoid the high rates of attrition that plague departments elsewhere. The most effective science programs at HBCUs emphasize teaching when considering whom to hire and promote, encourage students to collaborate rather than compete, and offer more opportunities for black students to find role models among both professors and peers."
The Black Press:
The Light of Truth by
Call Number: HV6457 .B362 2014
Publication Date: 2014
"Seventy-one years before Rosa Parks's courageous act of resistance, police dragged a young black journalist named Ida B. Wells off a train for refusing to give up her seat. The experience shaped Wells's career, and-when hate crimes touched her life personally-she mounted what was to become her life's work- an anti-lynching crusade that captured international attention. This volume covers the entire scope of Wells's remarkable career, collecting her early writings, articles exposing the horrors of lynching, essays from her travels abroad, and her later journalism. The Light of Truthis both an invaluable resource for study and a testament to Wells's long career as a civil rights activist."
Black Joy:
Liberated Threads by
Call Number: HV1421 .F67 2015
Publication Date: 2015
"From the civil rights and Black Power era of the 1960s through antiapartheid activism in the 1980s and beyond, black women have used their clothing, hair, and style not simply as a fashion statement but as a powerful tool of resistance... In this thought-provoking book, Tanisha C. Ford explores how and why black women in places as far-flung as New York City, Atlanta, London, and Johannesburg incorporated style and beauty culture into their activism. Focusing on the emergence of the "soul style" movement--represented in clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, and more--Liberated Threads shows that black women's fashion choices became galvanizing symbols of gender and political liberation."
Make sure you stop by the library to check out our colorful displays for Black History Month as well as a curated collection of resources on Black History librarians have chosen from our wider collection.
