LibGuides: History / World History: Spotlight: February is Black History Month

Black History Month - February

February is Black History month in Canada and the United States (the UK celebrates it in October), a time to learn about and celebrate Black history and culture.

"Black History Month grew out of Negro History Week, which was established in February 1926 by African-American historian Carter G. Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. Expanded in 1976 to a month-long observance, this celebration of the contributions and achievements of African Americans was initially designed to encompass the birthday of the abolitionist orator and journalist Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) on February 14 as well as Abraham LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY. The event is widely observed by schools, churches, libraries, clubs, and organizations wishing to draw attention to the contributions of African Americans." (Black history month. (2018). In P. Jaikumar (Ed.), Holidays around the world: detailing more than 3,400 observances from all 50 states and more than 100 nations. Retrieved from https://search.credoreference.com)

Black History Month was established in 1996 in Canada: the motion to create it was raised in Parliament by the Hon. Jean Augustine, the first Black woman to be elected as an MP:

"That this House take note of the important contribution of black Canadians to the settlement, growth and development of Canada, the diversity of the black community in Canada and its importance to the history of this country, and recognize February as Black History Month." (source: Government of Canada)

"Where Are You From?": Growing up African-Canadian in Vancouver
This study explores how the second generation in Vancouver redefine their African identities to distinguish themselves from African-Americans, while continuing to experience considerable everyday racism that challenges belonging as Canadians. As a result, some members of the second generation reject, and others strongly assert, a Canadian identity.
Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada's Black Beauty Culture
One of the first transnational, feminist studies of American black beauty culture in Canada, and the role that media, retail, and consumers have played in its development, Beauty in a Box widens our understanding of the global politics of black hair. The book analyzes advertisements and articles from media--newspapers, advertisements, television, and other sources--that focus on black communities in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary.
Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia
Nonficton. African American Studies. Canadian History. The voyage north of some 600 blacks from San Francisco to Victoria during the 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush was one of the most unusual mass migrations in North American history. While the British colonies of the Pacific Northwest were overrun with migrants from all lands on the quest for gold, this black community sought freedom and political enfranchisement as much as fortune.
Ebony Roots, Northern Soil: Perspectives on Blackness in Canada
Ebony Roots, Northern Soil is a powerful and timely collection of critical essays exploring the experiences, histories and cultural engagements of black Canadians. Drawing from postcolonial, critical race and black feminist theory, this innovative anthology brings together an extraordinary set of well-recognized and new scholars engaging in the critical debates about the cultural politics of identity and issues of cultural access, representation, production and reception.
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power
In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates, a bracing, provocative and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. The Skin We're In will spark a national conversation, influence policy and inspire activists.
They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada
Smartly dressed and smiling, Canada's black train porters were a familiar sight to the average passenger--yet their minority status rendered them politically invisible, second-class in the social imagination that determined who was and who was not considered Canadian. Subjected to grueling shifts and unreasonable standards--a passenger missing his stop was a dismissible offense--the so-called Pullmen of the country's rail lines were denied secure positions and prohibited from bringing their families to Canada, and it was their struggle against the racist Dominion that laid the groundwork for the multicultural nation we know today.
Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest
The history of African-descended peoples in Alaska runs deep and spans generations. This book presents their stories and chronicles how Alaska's Black population, though small, has had an outsized impact on the culture and civic life of the region. Centering the agency and diversity of Black Alaskans in a unique political and economic environment, this project documents the history of Black achievement, struggles, and everyday life in Alaska from 1867 to the early 21st century.

Find more books & videos:

Race discrimination - Canada

Slavery, Africa - History

Slavery, United States - History

Slavery - economic aspects - United States

Slavery - political aspects - 19th century

Antislavery movements - Great Britain

Antislavery movements - United States

Black Canadians

Africville (Halifax)

Underground Railroad - Canada

Black Lives Matter

African diaspora

Blacks - Canada

Emancipation Proclamation - United States

Featured databases:

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles from all subject areas.
Most journals have extensive past coverage with access to current articles typically delayed 3-5 years post publication.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.
Proquest Sociology Collection This link opens in a new window
Scholarly articles from sociology and related disciplines. Also searches Sociological Abstracts.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.
CBCA Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary scholarly and popular articles from Canadian journals and magazines.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.

Find more databases : A-Z Databases

Library of Congress, African American History collection
pamphlets, broadsides, slave narratives, and legal material
Black History - sources
Primary sources in the Library catalogue
The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record
Over 1200 images, mostly of the slavery era.
Black Abolitionist Archive
a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the period.
North American Slave Narratives
includes all the existing autobiographical narratives of fugitive and former slaves published as broadsides, pamphlets, or books in English up to 1920
The Civil Rights Digital Library
primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others dealing with the struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s
African Nova Scotians
Nova Scotia has been home to Canadians of African descent for over 300 years.
Black Loyalists
A collection of personal accounts, letters, and official documents relating to Black United Empire Loyalists in Canada.

Individual Titles & Series:

Birth of a Movement - In 1915, civil rights activist William Monroe Trotter waged a battle against D.W. Griffith's notoriously Ku Klux Klan-friendly blockbuster The Birth of a Nation, which unleashed a fight still raging today about race relations and representation, and the power and influence of Hollywood.

Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi - Uncovers the largely unknown and pivotal role played by black landowning families in the Deep South who controlled more than a million acres in the 1960s.

The Longest Struggle The History of the NAACP - (4-part series) - This series looks at the many struggles that led to the creation of the NAACP.

Roots - (DVD) / Roots - (Streaming Video) - An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots", in which Haley traces his African American family's history from the mid-18th century to the Reconstruction era.

America's Black Eagles (4-part series) - This series examines all-Black units in the U.S. Army Air Corps and their successes and controversies.

Streaming Video Portals

Curio.ca This link opens in a new window
Streaming video, films, and audio content from CBC and Radio-Canada in both French and English.

Please use Google Chrome when playing videos on campus. When using PCs in e-classrooms, videos should be accessible through Internet Explorer.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Academic, career, and technical streaming videos. KPU's largest streaming video subscription.

Please use Google Chrome when playing videos on campus. When using PCs in e-classrooms, videos should be accessible through Internet Explorer.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.
National Film Board This link opens in a new window
Streaming videos from Canada's National Film Board (NFB).

Please use Google Chrome when playing videos on campus. When using PCs in e-classrooms, videos should be accessible through Internet Explorer.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.
Criterion on Demand This link opens in a new window
Streaming feature films.
Off campus access restricted to current KPU students and employees.

Government of Canada - Biographies of notable Black Canadians, events in history, and organizations.

CBC - 23 Black Canadians you should know

BC Black History Awareness Society

British Columbia's Black Pioneers - An annotated guide to online resources on the history of Canada's Black community

Black History Educational Resources - Canada's History Journal

National Film Board: Black Communities in Canada - The films in this playlist are some of the most important NFB films made on the black community and paint a picture of a thriving culture in constant evolution.

One Woman's Resistance: The Viola Desmond Story - Canadian Museum for Human Rights

Africa Diaspora, PhD A blog dedicated to "the life and culture of people of African descent in Africa, Europe, and the Americas from the fifteenth century into the late nineteenth - the period of Atlantic slavery and slave trading".

ASALH - Association for the Study of African American Life and History

Podcasts

Strong and Free - 6-part podcast about Black Canadian history

Featured Book

Making Freedom : The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery
In Making Freedom , Blackett uses the experiences of escaped slaves and those who aided them to explore the inner workings of the Underground Railroad and the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, while shedding light on the political effects of slave escape in southern states, border states, and the North.

KPU Library

History / World History

Black History Month - February

Featured Book