We are excited to celebrate this year’s Black Legacy Month with you by sharing a project we did last year in collaboration with the Fletcher Africana Club. We brought together the Fletcher community to highlight the names of black writers, poets, filmmakers, and artists that inspire us. Community members wrote their recommendations on Post-it notes and placed them on a whiteboard in the library.
As we enter this year’s Black Legacy Month, we hope that this list allows you to recognize and reflect on the struggles, successes, and remarkable contributions of African Americans. You can view the list below.
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Art
Mark Bradford – with paintings that live in the realm of collage, assemblage + sculpture, it’s hard to not be influenced or fall in love with Bradford’s work.
Books
Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
Essays by James Baldwin:
- Nothing Personal;
- Note of a Native Son
- Sonny’s Blues (from Going to Meet the Man)
- A Letter to My Nephew
Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Queer Freedom: Black Sovereignty by Ana-Maurine Lara
In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
Counting Descent by Clint Smith
Olio by Tyehimba Jess
When Race, Religion & Sports Collide by Dr. Darron Smith
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Women’s Liberation of the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
A Burst of Light: Essays by Audre Lorde
Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
Begin Again by Eddie Glaude (2020)
Democracy in Black by Eddie Glaude
Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith
Kitchen table series by Carrie Mae Weems
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Video
“Calling in Culture” (Ted Talk) by Loretta Ross
Black is King by Beyonce + (other prominent artists)