Black History Month Blog

The Smithsonian's African American Art and Design web page is an excellent source comprising links, essays, research, and online exhibits which highlight the cultural institution's multitude of collections relating to African American art.

For those interested in the visual arts, the site includes such resources as "Cleopatra Lost and Found" an online exhibit chronicling the life and work of the nineteenth century African American sculptor, Edmonia Lewis. The Archives of American Art site on "The Papers of African American Artists" includes the papers of more than 50 African American painters, sculptors, and printmakers. "A Durable Memento: Portraits by Augustus Washington, African American Daguerreotypist" examines one of the few known African American practitioners of this early photographic medium.

The contributions of African-American performing artists are also well represented in the Smithsonian's collection. "Le Tumulte Noir: Paul Colin's Jazz Age Portfolio" is an exhibit of lithographs which capture the lively jazz music and dance craze in Paris in the 1920s. The "Mississippi River of Song" examines the richness and vitality of American music along the Mississippi at the close of the twentieth century through performances and intimate discussions with musicians.

For more African American heritage resources at the Smithsonian Institution also check out the "African American Heritage" brochure to help you plan your next trip.

--Kristina Keogh, Reference Librarian for the Arts - Cabell Library

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The first-ever digital collection of historical Civil Rights publications is now available, thanks to a partnership between the U.S. Government Printing Office, the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Thurgood Marshall Law Library, University of Maryland School of Law. Hundreds of publications from the United States Commission on Civil Rights are available at http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/index.asp, featuring everything from hearings to advisory committee reports. A sampling of PDF documents includes:

• Civil Rights Act of 1957 (Enabling Legislation for the Original Civil Rights Commission). P.L. 85-315 (Sept. 9, 1957); 71 Stat. 634.
• Southern School Desegregation, 1966-67. A Report of the US Commission on Civil Rights. Washington, DC. July 1967. Press release text.
• The Voting Rights Act: Summary and Text. Clearinghouse Publication no. 32. United States Commission on Civil Rights. Washington, DC. September, 1971.

--Renée Bosman, Reference Librarian for Government and Public Affairs - Cabell Library

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The Dirksen Congressional Center, a non-partisan organization that seeks to improve civic engagement, has created a Web-based resource entitled "The Civil Rights Documentation Project", which can be found at: http://www.congresslink.org/civilrights/index.htm. Geared toward teachers and students, but informative for all populations, the project features a comprehensive timeline that spans the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Supplementing the timeline are photos, audio clips, and external links to materials from museums, historical societies, and other organizations. The content focuses on the legislative processes of the period, with a level of detail that makes this project one of the more comprehensive, yet readable, sources for the legislative histories of some of our nation's most important laws.

--Renée Bosman, Reference Librarian for Government and Public Affairs - Cabell Library

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The first day of Black History Month also marks the 105th birthday of acclaimed Harlem Renaissance playwright, poet and social critic Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967). Hughes' work -- especially his memorable poems "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," "Night Funeral in Harlem," and the clarion call "A Dream Deferred" -- has influenced countless artists and writers. Hughes' interest in, and influence on, jazz has also inspired countless musicians, and this year VCU Libraries joins with the VCU School of Music to present "Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz," by The Langston Hughes Project, a concert by noted jazz composer and educator Dr. Ronald McCurdy. The concert -- on Friday, February 23, 2007 at 8 p.m. in the W. E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts -- features a multimedia celebration of Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance Era, including a spoken-word performance by Dr. Diane Richardson of selected poems by Hughes. The concert will be preceded by the VCU Libraries Black History Month lecture about The Langston Hughes Project by Dr. McCurdy and Dr. Richardson, on Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m. in the Singleton Center.

For more information about this exciting event, visit The Langston Hughes Project at http://www.vcujazz.org/community/hughes/index.htm

For more information about Hughes and his contributions to American literature, visit The Academy of American Poets webpage at http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

For more information about a journey Hughes made to Richmond in the 1920s, visit the online exhibit in the Special Collections Department at James Branch Cabell Library -- "Something Very Real": Langston Hughes and Richmond, Virgina, at http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/stagg/

--Kevin Farley, Humanities Librarian - Collection Management

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One often overlooked aspect of Martin Luther King Jr.'s career is his opposition to the war in Vietnam. In April 1967, Dr King delivered what would be known as his 'Beyond Vietnam' speech. You can listen to his speech and view the transcript here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm.

To learn more about the King's life and views, consult one of the many books held by VCU Libraries.

--Jason Morris, Library Specialist - Research and Reference Services

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The Library of Congress American Memory Project has 16 digitized collections of African American History available at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html. Among the collections are pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection [1818-1907], African-American Pamphlet Collection [1824-1909], Papers of Frederick Douglass, sheet music [1850-1920], slave narratives, and the plays of Zora Neale Hurston.

The American Memory Project is a model of national cooperation and learning technology. It brings together many different institutions and private interests to create, preserve, and make available primary source materials presented in multimedia formats for education and lifelong learning.

--Patricia Selinger, Head - Preservation Department

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VCU Libraries' African American Biographical Database (AABD) abounds with valuable information including biographies and narratives pertaining to African Americans from 1790 to 1950. Here you will find accounts of both prominent figures as well as everyday persons including business leaders, former slaves, artists, athletes, writers, church leaders, homemakers, scientists, and many more.

To find a specific profile, you can search using the person's name, state/country, city/county, occupation, religion, birth and death dates, or gender. You can also search full text narratives for instances a person's name or a keyword in full-text resources, some of which include photographs and other images. In addition, the AABD allows you to browse the sources in the database, which consist of biographical sketches and narratives from fascinating primary sources!

Not only is the AABD a useful resource for finding biographies and conducting genealogical research, but you can also trace the histories of movements such as the Abolitionist movement and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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Ninety-one year old Harold Slappy remembers Saturday nights in New York dancing to Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and other legendary jazz artists. He says, "To me, this is the garden of Eden." http://www.storycorps.net/audio/slappy.mp3 [MP3, 1:18 minutes]

This oral history is made available from StoryCorps, a national project that records individuals' personal histories and stories. The Library of Congress archives each interview, and National Public Radio broadcasts an excerpt each Friday on Morning Edition. For more information, visit http://www.storycorps.net/.

Mary Ellen Spencer, Head - Research and Reference Services

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Once again, VH1 is celebrating Black History Month with special programming and Web features. You can watch shows like "VH1 Goes Inside: Yo! MTV Raps," which airs today at 10pm, and "DMC: My Adoption Journey." VH1 also profiles prominent African-American artists such as Isaac Hayes and Mary J. Blige as well as new talent. See the VH1 Black History Month Web site for these features and more.

If you would like to explore library resources on the topics of Hip Hop, Rap and R&B, see VCU Libraries' new research guide at http://www.library.vcu.edu/guides/hiphop.html to find relevant books, articles and Web sites!

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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The Martin Luther King Newspaper Archive: The fee-based service NewspaperArchive.com
now offers a free archive on the history of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the viewing thousands of original newspaper articles. The archive includes stories from days of the Montgomery bus boycott, the "I Have A Dream" speech, King's
assassination on April 4, 1968, and thousands of other full-text news stories on the civil rights leader. A timeline
is provided to view newspaper stories in chronological order or you can search for articles with your own key words.

--Dan Ream, Head - Education and Outreach Services

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Listen to Sam Harmon, a Navy veteran, recall a painful memory for his grandson Ezra Awimey. Mr. Harmon recounts a visit to Washington, DC that he calls "without any exception...the most painful recollection...that I have." http://www.storycorps.net/audio/harmon.mp3 [MP3, 1:31 minutes]

This oral history is made available from StoryCorps, a national project that records individuals' personal histories and stories. The Library of Congress archives each interview, and National Public Radio broadcasts an excerpt each Friday on Morning Edition. For more information, visit http://www.storycorps.net/.

--Mary Ellen Spencer, Head - Research and Reference Services

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The Encyclopedia Britannica assembled an impressive array of articles, images, video clips, and multimedia presentations in its Guide to Black History at http://search.eb.com/Blackhistory/home.do. The timeline traces two millennia of black history, and the browse features enable you to pinpoint the central people, places, topics, and events covered in black history. The image and multimedia galleries provide snapshots of black culture throughout the ages.

Take a moment to explore this terrific resource!

--Jill Stover, Undergraduate Services Librarian - Research and Reference Services

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In April of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now legendary "I've been to the mountaintop..." speech in Memphis, TN. Dr. King had traveled to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers and addressed a gathering at the Mason Temple. Taylor and Bessie Rogers were in the audience that night and heard Dr. King speak. Listen to their recollection of the address, given the evening before King was shot: http://www.storycorps.net/audio/rogers.mp3 [MP3, 1:35 minutes]

This oral history is made available from StoryCorps, a national project that records individuals' personal histories and stories. The Library of Congress archives each interview, and National Public Radio broadcasts an excerpt each Friday on Morning Edition. For more information, visit http://www.storycorps.net/.

Mary Ellen Spencer, Head - Research and Reference Services.

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Documenting the American South is a digital library that offers online access to books, memoirs, images, songs, artifacts, diaries and more. The collection's emphasis is on the South's cultural, literary, and historic legacy, from its beginnings though the early 20th century.

North American Slave Narratives is one of the seven DocSouth collections, and includes all autobiographical slave narratives in English. The project documents "the individual and collective story of African Americans struggling for freedom and human rights in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries." The approximately three hundred narratives were published as broadsides (Life, Last Words, and Dying Speech of Stephen Smith), pamphlets (The Confessions of Nat Turner), and books (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Written by Himself). Other notable slave narratives include Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington, and Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave by Sojourner Truth and Olive Gilbert.

--Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian.

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Documenting the American South is a digital library that offers online access to books, memoirs, images, songs, artifacts, diaries and more. The collection's emphasis is on the South's cultural, literary, and historic legacy, from its beginnings though the early 20th century.

According to the DocSouth website, "'The Church in the Southern Black Community' collects autobiographies, biographies, church documents, sermons, histories, encyclopedias, and other published materials. These texts present a collected history of the way Southern African Americans experienced and transformed Protestant Christianity into the central institution of community life. Coverage begins with white churches' conversion efforts, especially in the post-Revolutionary period, and depicts the tensions and contradictions between the egalitarian potential of evangelical Christianity and the realities of slavery. It focuses, through slave narratives and observations by other African American authors, on how the black community adapted evangelical Christianity, making it a metaphor for freedom, community, and personal survival."

The following are examples of the digitized texts included in the project:

• History of African Methodism in Virginia, or Four Decades in the Old Dominion
  Butt, Israel L. (Israel La Fayette), b. 1848
  Hampton, Va.: Hampton Institute Press, 1908. 253 p.


• Afro-American Encyclopaedia
  Haley, James T.
  Nashville, Tenn.: Haley & Florida, 1895. xiv, 639 p.


• Recollections of Seventy Years
  Payne, Daniel Alexander, 1811-1893
  Nashville: A. M. E. Sunday School Union, 1888. 335 p.

--Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian.

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The Thomson-Gale publishing company has assembled a variety of materials in celebration of Black History Month. The site includes biographical material, a timeline of events, and information about African-American literature. Be sure to download the free Black History Month wall calendar!

-- Mary Ellen Spencer Head, Research and Reference.

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