Books on Display: Strong Voices
In honor of those that have highlighted inequality, fought for civil rights, and advocated for a shift in focus toward our shared humanity, we offer these titles and authors.  These books, some celebratory, some classic, some informational, some old and some new - all are thought provoking and all raise strong voices.  
 

The 1619 Project : a new origin story
by Nikole Hannah-Jones

This ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began on the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery reimagines if our national narrative actually started in late August of 1619, when a ship arrived in Jamestown bearing a cargo of 20-30 enslaved people from Africa.
Alabama v. King : Martin Luther King Jr. and the criminal trial that launched the civil rights movement
by Dan Abrams

Reveals the story of the historic trial resulting from the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott that revealed the racist systems of the South to a worldwide audience and made Martin Luther King, Jr., a national hero
Caste : the origins of our discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Warmth of Other Suns identifies the qualifying characteristics of historical caste systems to reveal how a rigid hierarchy of human rankings, enforced by religious views, heritage and stigma, impact everyday American lives.
Civil rights queen : Constance Baker Motley and the struggle for equality
by Tomiko Brown-Nagin

This biography of the first black woman to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court examines how she played a critical role in vanquishing Jim Crow laws throughout the South.
The hill we climb : an inaugural poem for the country
by Amanda Gorman

On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, Gorman captivated the nation and brought hope to viewers around the globe. Including an enduring foreword by Oprah Winfrey, this keepsake celebrates the promise of America and affirms the power of poetry.
His name is George Floyd : one man's life and the struggle for racial justice
by Robert Samuels

Two prize-winning Washington Post reporters examine how systemic racism impacted both the life and death of the 46-year old black man who was murdered in broad daylight outside a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin.
I know why the caged bird sings
by Maya Angelou

The critically acclaimed author and poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums, in a special anniversary edition of her acclaimed autobiography.
Julian Bond's time to teach : a history of the southern civil rights movement
by Julian Bond

The SNCC co-founder and civil rights professor draws on original lecture notes to explain the role of youth activism in key historical events, the unpopular and high-risk realities of disruptive movements and what today’s activists need to know.
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