Black History Month

It is Black History Month so please stop by the library to see the displays and to check out a book. Here are a just a couple of relevant titles:

BLACK BIRDS IN THE SKY by Brandy Colbert is an award-winning work of non-fiction designed for young adult readers. Its focus is on events surrounding the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre when a white mob razed thirty-five square city blocks, leaving hundreds dead. Colbert combines personal accounts from survivors with historical context and period photos to convey the horrific events of that day. Often described as “essential reading,” BLACK BIRDS IN THE SKY received multiple starred reviews, including from Booklist, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. Colbert writes, “This history is painful. It angers me. … I am grateful for educators who continue to do the difficult work of teaching their students the complicated, sometimes brutal history of this country’s past.” Other recent books about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre include The Ground Breaking and The Burning; the latter is available in versions for both adults and younger readers.

JUST HEALTH by Dayna Bowen Matthew is to be published later this month by New York University Press and therefore takes a more sophisticated and academic look at “Treating Structural Racism to Heal America.” Matthew, a Dean and Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School, argues that poverty, prejudice and poor health are “afflictions of structural inequality” which she defines as "the deliberately and unintentionally constructed disruptions that a society uses to systematically displace humans from standing on equal footing in life.” She draws on extensive research (more than ten percent of the book is devoted to notes and references) to explore geographic and demographic differences in chapters related to legal issues, housing, education, and healthcare. A final chapter outlines proposals for solutions and policy reform. Inequitable healthcare, both for women and people of color, is a topic of high interest for this year’s Junior Themers, many of whom are reading related texts such as Doing Harm and Seeing Patients.