African American Heritage Month  

The San Antonio Public Library recognizes the influence of African American Culture in our community. This year we celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s march to Washington, D.C.

We have gathered reading suggestions and websites related to this observance; African American culture in general, links to sites of local appeal, as well as connections to library resources.

Please join our celebration.

ASALH (2012):

   On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of Americans...marched to the memorial of Abraham Lincoln, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, in the continuing pursuit of equality of citizenship and self-determination. It was on this occasion that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech. Just as the Emancipation Proclamation had recognized the coming end of slavery, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom announced that the days of legal segregation in the United States were numbered. (section, 2)

Here are some recent books written about African Americans.

Simple, not easy : reflections on community, social responsibility and tolerance - TERRENCE J ROBERTS

Call Number: 323.1196

ISBN: 9781935166160

Terrence Roberts was one of the Little Rock Nine, the group of African American teenagers who were the first to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. This book collects Roberts' key Martin Luther King Day speeches and other public addresses that reflect his core values and concerns for our society.

Dark days, bright nights : from Black power to Barack Obama - PENIEL E. JOSEPH

Call Number: 323.1196 JOSEPH

ISBN: 9780465013661

Historian Joseph views President Obama's election from the spectrum of black power, often considered the evil twin of the civil rights movement. Joseph looks beyond the militant rhetoric and images of gun-toting Black Panthers that provoked fear in the white establishment to the concrete achievements of the black power movement.

The sound of freedom : Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the concert that awakened America - RAYMOUND ARSENAULT

Call Number: 782.1092 ARSENAULT

ISBN: 9781596915787

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of African-American contralto Marian Anderson's culture-shifting 1939 Easter Sunday performance at the Lincoln Memorial, the story of this underappreciated Civil Rights milestone resonates even louder in the wake of President Obama's election.

Marshalling justice : the early civil rights letters of Thurgood Marshall - Thurgood Marshall

Call Number: 347.73263 MARSHALL

ISBN: 9780061985188

Readers for whom Marshall is best known for arguing and winning Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 and becoming the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in 1967 will find this collection of letters written between 1935 and 1957 thoroughly illuminating.

Carry me home : Birmingham, Alabama : the climactic battle of the civil rights revolution - Martha Southgate

Call Number: DIANE McWHORTER

ISBN: 0684807475

The story of civil rights in Birmingham, Ala., has been told before from the unspeakable violence to the simple, courageous decencies but fresh, sometimes startling details distinguish this doorstop page-turner told by a daughter of the city's white elite.

The Black-White achievement gap : why closing it is the greatest civil rights issue of our time - ROD PAIGE

Call Number: 379.26097 PAIGE

ISBN: 9780814415191

In this clarion call, Paige, a former secretary of education (2001-2005) and his sister, a noted educator, pursue two threads of thought: the quest for authentic African-American leadership and the black-white achievement gap.

The hammer and the anvil : Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the end of slavery in America

Call Number: GRAPHIC NOVEL ZIMMERMAN

ISBN: 9780809053582

The period leading up to the Civil War was one of great change. Congress divided itself between Northerners and Southerners, citizens on the frontier took up arms against one another, and movements for secession and abolition were more urgent than ever.

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The Following web sites will give you lots of links to information about African Americans.