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History and Current Events February 2021
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| Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham (editors)What it is: an inventive and nonlinear mixed-media anthology that asks: "What does it mean to be Black and alive right now?"
What's inside: poetry, artwork, essays, memes, recipes, and interviews.
Contributors include: Ta-Nehisi Coates; Zadie Smith; Kiese Laymon; Samantha Irby; Hanif Abdurraqib; Ziwe Fumudoh. |
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| Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma OluoWhat it's about: how white male identity in America preserves a status quo that harms women and people of color.
Food for thought: "If white men are finding that the overwhelmingly white-male-controlled system isn’t meeting their needs, how did we end up being the problem?”
Author alert: Ijeoma Oluo is the New York Times bestselling author of So You Want to Talk About Race. |
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Global Medicine in China : A Diasporic History (ebook)
by Wayne Soon
"In 1938, one year into the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese military found itself in dire medical straits. Soldiers were suffering from deadly illnesses, and were unable to receive blood transfusions for their wounds. The urgent need for medical assistance prompted an unprecedented flowering of scientific knowledge in China and Taiwan throughout the twentieth century. Wayne Soon draws on archives from three continents to argue that Overseas Chinese were key to this development, utilizing their global connections and diasporic links to procure much-needed money, supplies, and medical expertise," (Hoopla, 2021).
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Britain at Bay : The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941
by Alan Allport
The award-winning author of Demobbed examines the military and political dimensions of World War II’s early years to illuminate the marked differences between peacetime and wartime British culture and consider if England demonstrated its own values. Illustrations.
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| A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole GrossWhat it is: a sweeping yet concise history prioritizing the experiences of Black women whose "everyday heroism" shaped America.
What's inside: profiles of 11 lesser known Black women whose stories provide illuminating context for the Atlantic slave trade, the Great Migration, Jim Crow laws, protest movements, and more.
Try this next: Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall. |
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| Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge (ebook) by Erica Armstrong DunbarHow it began: In 1796, on the eve of being "gifted" to one of George and Martha Washington's granddaughters, lifelong Washington family slave and seamstress Ona Judge made a daring escape to freedom.
What happened next: Pursued by Washington for years, Judge settled in New Hampshire, where she lived freely for the next half century.
Book buzz: This thought-provoking National Book Award Finalist offers an eye-opening perspective on the legacy of America's first president. |
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| What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished... (also on Audiobook) by Michael Eric DysonWhat it's about: the fateful May 1963 meeting organized by attorney general Robert F. Kennedy and James Baldwin to discuss race relations.
In attendance: Lorraine Hansberry, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, psychologist Kenneth Clark, and Freedom Rider Jerome Smith.
Why it matters: This "watershed moment in American politics" jump-started difficult conversations that continue to resonate today. |
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| Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow (ebook) by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.What it is: a sobering history of America's Reconstruction era and Jim Crow legislation that offers striking parallels to contemporary white supremacy movements.
Topics include: eugenics and scientific racism; mass produced stereotypes and blackface; the emergence of the "New Negro."
Reviewers say: "indispensable for understanding American history" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights (Audiobook) by Gretchen SorinWhat it is: an accessible and engaging history of the freedoms (and limitations) of 20th-century Black mobility.
Why you might like it: Featuring photos, interviews, and author Gretchen Sorin's own memories of family car trips, Driving While Black spotlights the ways in which Black travel signaled Black resistance.
Further reading: Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America by Candacy Taylor. |
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Between the World and Me (ebook and Audiobook)
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Told through the author's own evolving understanding of the subject over the course of his life comes a bold and personal investigation into America's racial history and its contemporary echoes.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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