February is Black History Month. The MGCC Library's newest book display is a celebration of Black history, art, and literature. The display is located at the front of the library, and all books are available for checkout. Below are just some of the amazing books we've included in the display.
"For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If
only we are brave enough to be it."
— Amanda Gorman, poet and activist
Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America
In the 1920s, Harlem was the capital of Black
America and home to an epochal African-American cultural flowering
called the Harlem Renaissance. This book presents the work of the most
important visual artists of the day, including Meta Warrick Fuller,
Aaron Douglas and Palmer Hayden.
Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
In a career that has spanned more than a quarter
century, Nikki Giovanni has earned the reputation as one of America's
most celebrated and contoversial writers. Now, she presents a stunning
collection of love poems that includes more than twenty new works.
From the revolutionary "Seduction" to the tender new poem, "Just a Simple Declaration of Love," from the whimsical "I Wrote a Good Omelet" to the elegiac "All Eyez on U," written for Tupac Shakur, these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Nikki Giovanni is beloved and revered.
Romantic, bold, and erotic, Love Poems expresses notions of love in ways that are delightfully unexpected. Articulating in sensuous verse what we know only instinctively, Nikki Giovanni once again confirms her place as one of our nations's most distinguished poets and powerful truth-tellers.
From the revolutionary "Seduction" to the tender new poem, "Just a Simple Declaration of Love," from the whimsical "I Wrote a Good Omelet" to the elegiac "All Eyez on U," written for Tupac Shakur, these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Nikki Giovanni is beloved and revered.
Romantic, bold, and erotic, Love Poems expresses notions of love in ways that are delightfully unexpected. Articulating in sensuous verse what we know only instinctively, Nikki Giovanni once again confirms her place as one of our nations's most distinguished poets and powerful truth-tellers.
Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison
With the same intellectual incisiveness and supple, stylish prose he brought to his classic novel Invisible Man,
Ralph Ellison examines his antecedents and in so doing illuminates the
literature, music, and culture of both black and white America.
His range is virtuosic, encompassing Mark Twain and Richard Wright, Mahalia Jackson and Charlie Parker, The Birth of a Nation and the Dante-esque landscape of Harlem—“the scene and symbol of the Negro’s perpetual alienation in the land of his birth.” Throughout, he gives us what amounts to an episodic autobiography that traces his formation as a writer as well as the genesis of Invisible Man.
On every page, Ellison reveals his idiosyncratic and often contrarian brilliance, his insistence on refuting both black and white stereotypes of what an African American writer should say or be. The result is a book that continues to instruct, delight, and occasionally outrage readers.
His range is virtuosic, encompassing Mark Twain and Richard Wright, Mahalia Jackson and Charlie Parker, The Birth of a Nation and the Dante-esque landscape of Harlem—“the scene and symbol of the Negro’s perpetual alienation in the land of his birth.” Throughout, he gives us what amounts to an episodic autobiography that traces his formation as a writer as well as the genesis of Invisible Man.
On every page, Ellison reveals his idiosyncratic and often contrarian brilliance, his insistence on refuting both black and white stereotypes of what an African American writer should say or be. The result is a book that continues to instruct, delight, and occasionally outrage readers.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Dana, a modern Black woman, is celebrating her
26th birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from
her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus,
the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been
summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the
slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and
more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will
end, long before it has a chance to begin.
Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
In this ideal introduction to black history,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar examines the lives of heroic African Americans and
offers their stories as inspiring examples for young people, who too
rarely encounter positive black role models in history books or in the
media. Profiled here are Peter Salem, the volunteer soldier who turned
the tide at Bunker Hill; Joseph Cinque, leader of a daring revolt on the
slave ship Amistad; Frederick Douglass, self-taught writer-orator and
escaped slave who forced President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation
Proclamation years ahead of schedule; Harriet Tubman, who led at least
three hundred slaves to freedom; Lewis Latimer, whose scientific work
was integral to the achievements of Bell and Edison; and many more.
Shining a bright light on the touchstones of character, these exemplary
stories reemphasize the integral role of African Americans in weaving
the fabric of our nation and form an empowering legacy from which
Americans of all ages can draw inspiration, wisdom, and pride.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American
classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary
film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.
From Swing to Soul: An Illustrated History of African American Popular Music from 1930 to 1960
From Swing to Soul is set against the cultural
and economic changes of the times and charts the transformation from
Depression-era rural blues to urban blues, from big-band jazz or "swing"
to modern jazz or "be-bop", from rhythm and blues to rock-'n'-roll, and
on to soul.Barlow's essays highlight the different settings in which
black music flourished. Biographies chronicle the lives of composers,
instrumentalists, and vocalists who shaped black contributions to the
American "soundscape".
The text is illustrated with compelling photographs of household names -- Ellington, Basie, Waller, Parker, Holiday, Cole -- and lesser-known luminaries such as Lizzie "Memphis Minnie" Douglas.
This musical era continues to reverberate in today's popular rock, rap, jazz, and hip-hop -- a legacy of the tenacious genius of its creators.
The text is illustrated with compelling photographs of household names -- Ellington, Basie, Waller, Parker, Holiday, Cole -- and lesser-known luminaries such as Lizzie "Memphis Minnie" Douglas.
This musical era continues to reverberate in today's popular rock, rap, jazz, and hip-hop -- a legacy of the tenacious genius of its creators.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Elwood
Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as
good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving,
strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the
local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent
mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The
Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and
moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and
honest men'.
In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.
The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.
Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.
In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.
The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.
Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.
Note: All book descriptions from Goodreads.com.