We’re coming off a really big year for black awareness. We’ve seen the growth of much-needed social movements, we’ve endured some low lows, celebrated big firsts, but the fight is not over!
We have to continue to do more to educate ourselves and especially those around us about the beauty of black culture and the hidden and seen oppression the black community has faced and continues to face.
Ours is a story of strife, resilience and ingenuity!
Here are several books and films you need to check out during Black History Month and beyond!
These iconic figures and stories should be in our minds and hearts in the month of February, and be a force for continued thought and change in the future.
May we know these historical stories, tell these stories to the next generation, and live lives that create some of our own.
Books
The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells is a must-read. If you aren’t familiar with her story, you will be forever changed after hearing it.
Ida B. Wells was a journalist, suffragist, a crusader for anti-lynching and a pioneer. She was born from slavery, and rose up to be a great leader and agitator, and a thorn in the side of the F.B.I..
Her passion and bravery shook the iron cage of oppression a century before our time and now rings as a rallying cry for the continued examination of America and it’s follies.
Ida was a cofounder for the NAACP and is becoming an increasingly known and celebrated figure in the black community and beyond.
Read her story, learn from her courage and example, and check out these other great reads, too:
- Black Firsts: 500 Years of Trailblazing Achievements and Ground-Breaking Events
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Black People Invented Everything: The Deep History of Indigenous Creativity
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Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
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The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Films
Film is a great medium to portray the dark and deeply moving stories of our black history and also the stunning light of creativity, talent, bravery and depth in our varied ancestry, collective pasts and in the heroic individuals that have and will continue to shape us.
Here are some new releases from 2020 and 2021 you need to see!
Judas and the Black Messiah – 2/11
The United States vs. Billie Holiday – 2/26
One Night in Miami – 1/15
And, don’t forget these other amazing titles:
These books and films are a great place to start in your celebration of Black History month.
I hope you’ll take some time to reflect on these stories and consider your own legacy. What are you doing to speak life into the narrative? How will you encourage and support the next generation?
We can all be part of this beautiful heritage and a force for change!
