Black History Month

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) has chosen “Resistance” as the theme for this year’s Black History Month. It’s fitting, then, that the Library of Congress chose this February to unveil one of its newest digital collections – The Protests Against Racism Web Archive.

The site contains a selection of websites that document protests and activism sparked by the May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd. The site features screen captures from national and international websites. Collectively, those digital resources provide snapshots of protests against racism and police brutality against Blacks, police reform (both the liberal and conservative reactions to police brutality); and critical grassroots movements (i.e. local Black activism, multiracial activism).

The commemoration that would become Black History Month began back in 1926, when ASALH’s founder Dr. Carter G. Woodson first established “Negro History Week” during the second week of February. In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford expanded the celebration to an entire month. 

Since 1928, ASALH has designated a theme for Black History Month. In explaining the selection of this year’s theme, ASALH states, “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores. These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States political jurisdiction. “

Below find links to items on that list that are part of the MacPhaidin Library collection that are related to the Library of Congress’s new archive and are in keeping with this year’s Black History Month theme.

Videos

• Minnesota! The Modern Day Selma
  The murder of George Floyd changed the world. As protests erupted everywhere, one group traveled to Minnesota to stand in solidarity with the families of those impacted by police violence. They reached out to politicians and invited them to grieve with the community. For several days nobody came, but what these men would accomplish was a surprise even to them.
• #BlackLivesMatter from ABC International
  This documentary follows correspondent Sally Sara as she takes to the streets of Baltimore and Chicago to investigate a reawakened civil rights movement that's fighting to stop the killing of black Americans.

Books

• America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton
  What began in spring 2020 as local protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police quickly exploded into a massive nationwide movement. To many observers, the protests appeared to be without precedent in their scale and persistence. Hinton shows that the events of 2020 had clear precursors--and any attempt to understand our current crisis requires a reckoning with the recent past. (Adapted from book jacket)
• Protest and Dissent edited by Melissa Schwartzbert
  In this collection of essays, distinguished scholars from the fields of political science, law, and philosophy provide a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective on the potential—and limits—of mass protest and disobedience in today’s age. (Adapted from the publisher’s website)