To celebrate Black History Month, we encourage you to do one of the following:
WATCH a film or documentary that tells a piece of the complex story that is Black History
READ or listen to an #ownvoices book by a Black author or poet
LISTEN to a podcast episode that digs deeper into one part of the story
ATTEND a virtual event
Did you learn something new? Did something surprise you? Did you make a connection to a current event? Share your thoughts / reflections here:
Discussion--Wednesday, March 10th @12:30pm
Join us to share reflections and talk about how we can continue to celebrate Black History year round.
WATCH
Click on film image for description.
Complete form to access the film.
Ms. Millette will email you the link.
Black History Month Film Festival
Sponsored by the Boston Globe, films such as Glory, Code Switching, Memoirs of a Black Girl, and Black Boys. Each film is followed up with a Zoom discussion.
Access the following films through Kanopy at the Boston Public Library. You will need to sign up for a FREE Boston Public Library eCard to access it.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (PBS)
The series will take viewers across five hundred years and two continents to shed new light on the experience of being an African American. By highlighting the tragedies, triumphs and contradictions of the black experience, the series will reveal to viewers that the African-American community, which abolitionist Martin R. Delany famously described as “a nation within a nation,” has never been a uniform entity, and that its members have been actively debating their differences from their first days in this country. Throughout the course of the series, viewers will see that the road to freedom for black people in America was not linear, but more like the course of a river, full of loops and eddies, slowing, and occasionally reversing the current of progress.
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement (PBS)
Eyes on the Prize recounts the fight to end decades of discrimination and segregation. It is the story of the people — young and old, male and female, northern and southern — who, compelled by a meeting of conscience and circumstance, worked to eradicate a world where whites and blacks could not go to the same school, ride the same bus, vote in the same election, or participate equally in society. It was a world in which peaceful demonstrators were met with resistance and brutality — in short, a reality that is now nearly incomprehensible to many young Americans. Through contemporary interviews and historical footage, Eyes on the Prize traces the civil rights movement from the Montgomery bus boycott to the Voting Rights Act; from early acts of individual courage through the flowering of a mass movement and its eventual split into factions. Julian Bond, political leader and civil rights activist, narrates.
Roots (2016)
This four part mini-series is a historical portrait of American slavery recounting the journey of one family and their will to survive and ultimately carry on their legacy despite hardship.
READ
Here are some recommended titles. This is not a complete list and there are SO many other great books by Black authors and about their experiences. If you would like more recommendations, please let me know!
Images are linked to the descriptions of books. Request a print book HERE. E-Books / Audio books can be accessed through Sora.
Non-Fiction
Fiction #ownvoices
POETRY
LISTEN
Code Switch (a weekly podcast by NPR) has put together a Black History Month playlist. I highly encourage you to listen to one of the following episodes.
'20 and Odd. Negroes.' (36 min) -- The first enslaved Africans in the United States
A Thousand Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground (24 min)-- How black athletes transformed sports activism
Some of the People Knew Magic (27 min)-- Artists illuminating queer history
The Road to the Promised Land, 50 Years Later (23 min)-- How the assasination of MLK changed the Black Panther Party
Location! Location! Location! (35 min)--Housing segregation's past and present
When 'Miss' Meant So Much More: How One Woman Fought Alabama (27 min)--And Won--Disrespect to Miss-Respect : The woman who refused to be disrespected
A Strange and Bitter Crop (26 min)-- One of the most well-attended lynchings in U.S. History
Twenty-First Century Blackface (31 min)-- Activists fighting racism outside of the United States
ATTEND
This is a list of FREE virtual events. Most events require advanced registration.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH FILM FESTIVAL Feb. 1-28, free.
The Boston Globe showcases films and filmmakers that document Black culture and experiences. Combining new films and timeless classics, including “The Inkwell," “Glory," and"Memoirs of a Black Girl," the festival will feature viewer discussions and conversations with filmmakers.
BLACK HISTORIES, BLACK FUTURES Feb. 8, 11:10 a.m. or 1:10 p.m., free.
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston invites students in third to eighth grade to explore paintings by 20th-century Black artists, selected by Boston teens, via a livestream program. An MFA curator guides the discussion, and students will also learn how their peers curated the exhibition. The event is open to any student working from home.
SYBRINA FULTON: WE ARE ALL TRAYVON Feb. 9, 6 p.m., free.
Sybrina Fulton, activist and mother of the late Trayvon Martin, will speak about her book, Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, which shares the intimate story of a tragically foreshortened life and the rise of a movement that awoke a nation's conscience. This event is hosted by Boston Public Library.
AND SO ON: READING AND CONVERSATION WITH KIESE LAYMON Feb. 11, 4 p.m., free.
Author Kiese Laymon and Professor Courtney Baker will discuss the ethics of creating comedic narratives about Black American horror in predominantly white spaces, like college campuses. At the virtual event hosted by Harvard's Radcliffe Institute, Laymon will create a live novella and essay during this talk, highlighting the ethics of making this art for an audience that includes white people.
THE CROOKED PATH TO ABOLITION: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE ANTISLAVERY CONSTITUTION Feb. 11, 5:30 p.m., free.
Historian and professor James Oakes will discuss Abraham Lincoln's complicated legacy in conversation with Harvard professor Randall Kennedy. In his new book, “The Crooked Path to Abolition," Oakes uncovers Lincoln's Constitution-based strategy regarding the abolition of slavery. Hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
CODESWITCHING Feb. 16, noon, free
METCO students who navigate from their neighborhoods in the city to the well-resourced suburban schools they attend sometimes drop elements of their culture, language, and behavior to fit in. Relying on personal narratives, “CodeSwitching" explores their lives and the positive and harmful effects of constant code-switching. The documentary is part of The Boston Globe's Black History Month Film Festival..
A DISCUSSION WITH JENNIFER SMITH TURNER, AUTHOR OF CHILD BRIDE Feb. 18, 7 p.m., free.
A NYC Big Book and American Library Association Award Winning book, Child Bride takes place in the segregated South of the mid-1900s. Fourteen-year-old Nell bears witness to a world that embraces the oppression of women. Portions of the book take place in Boston and it has strong female characters. Jennifer will read portions of her book and discuss the characters and plans for upcoming projects including a possible sequel and new poetry.
THE THREE MOTHERS: HOW THE MOTHERS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., MALCOLM X, AND JAMES BALDWIN SHAPED A NATION Feb. 23, 6 p.m., free.
Anna Malaika Tubbs's first book, “The Three Mothers," explores and celebrates Black motherhood by telling the stories of the women who raised Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X. and James Baldwin. Tubbs discusses her book at an event hosted by Boston Public Library, the Museum of African American History, and others.
PROTEST AND CITIZENSHIP: REVISITED Feb. 25, 5:30 p.m., free.
The power of protest has been integral in advancing the rights of the disenfranchised, and 2020 held clear examples, especially the demonstrations that took place after the murder of George Floyd. Four scholars will discuss how the past informs the current sociopolitical climate, in a continuation of a 2018 discussion held by the Massachusetts Historical Society.