Stratford’s public librarians are highlighting a wide range of contemporary works exploring the Black experience in North America as communities across the continent begin to celebrate Black History Month on Wednesday.
Stratford’s public librarians are highlighting a wide range of contemporary works exploring the Black experience in North America as communities across the continent begin to celebrate Black History Month on Wednesday.
“We want to be highlighting works like this all year long because we need to serve our entire community all year long, but this is a month where I think people are really paying attention,” said Shauna Costache, the Stratford library’s public service supervisor. “It’s extra important that we just make sure everybody has access to the resources they need to understand more about their community and how to be here for each other.”
The Stratford Public Library has unveiled two curated online lists filled with recommendations focused on Black writers and filmmakers.
Tea #BlackLivesMatter Syllabus contains around a dozen pieces of relevant long-form journalism, plus another 50 books and films, about the development of the roughly decade-old movement in Canada and the United States.
Another 25 items have been added to the Black Resistance Listdedicated to this year’s Black History Month theme.
Although the origins of Black History Month in the United States date back to 1926, interest in art exploring the Black experience has been high following the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Pamela Turner and Rekia Boyd, among others. Their deaths have inspired massive protests, the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement, and a racial reckoning that has since spread beyond the borders of the United States.
Libraries can play an important role in helping their communities understand the context behind those types of events, Costache said.
“There’s been a lot of really great (work) coming out, especially over the past couple of years since the murder of George Floyd,” she said. “We do have people that walk in the door when something comes up in the news … and they want to learn more about what’s going on. It’s nice to be able to provide that, and it’s nice for people to be able to see themselves in the library, too.”
A couple of the non-fiction works on the Stratford libraries Black History Month lists this year are His Name is George Floyd, a 2022 biography written by Washington Post journalists Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa, and Judas and the Black Messiah, a 2021 biographical film about Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago.
On the fiction side, featured authors include American romance novelist Jasmine Guillory, whose stories have prominently featured Black protagonists since she began her writing career in 2015.
“For my money, she’s the best romance writer out there right now,” Costache said. “Her stories are witty, joyful, fast paced, grounded in current events and pop culture, and usually pretty sexy. Plus, her characters have a tendency to turn up in her other books, so you get to catch up on the happy couples as you read on.”
Beanstack, the library’s interactive reading platform, will be incorporating books from the Black community this month also featured during Freedom to Read Week Feb. 19-25. Black History Month displays will also be up inside Stratford’s library.
“If anybody has any specific niche interests, we’re happy to go down rabbit holes for people, too,” Costache said, “and find things specifically about the southern Ontario context with us being the terminus of the Underground Railroad.”
A selection of Black History Month recommendations from the Stratford Public Library
Rehearsals for Living
by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Robyn Maynard
In this Canadian best-seller, Black Canadian writer Robyn Maynard and Mississauga Nishnaabeg writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson exchange ideas about the possibilities for more liberatory futures during a historic year of Indigenous land defence, prison strikes, and global Black-led rebellions against policing.
His Name is George Floyd
By Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa
Washington Post journalists Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa use the life and murder of George Floyd as a lens to examine racism in the United States. The book draws from interviews with Floyd’s friends, family and members of his local community, explores his family’s history as tenant farmers during the Reconstruction era, and discusses his parenting, drug addiction and convictions.
Judas and the Black Messiah
Directed and produced by Shaka King, who wrote the screenplay with Will Berson, Judas and the Black Messiah is a 2021 crime drama about Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago, and his betrayal by William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), an FBI informant.
The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer
By Janelle Monae
A collection of short stories by singer-songwriter, actor and author Janelle Monae and her collaborators that bring to life an Afrofuturistic world based on her critically acclaimed album, Dirty Computer.
How to Be an Antiracist
By Ibram X. Kendi
American author and historian Ibram X. Kendi discusses racism and proposals for systemic change in this non-fiction book combining social commentary and memoir. Perfect for someone interested in learning how to become a good ally of the Black community, Costache said.