Black History Month at Eleventh Stack was filled to the brim with education and entertainment. Here’s a look back at everything we wrote about, just in case you missed an essay or two along the way.
February featured a larger-than-usual number of guest posts written by library users and staff who wanted to share the people and things they care about. Dan invited you to a special screening of the film East of Liberty, and quite a few of you took him up on that –thanks! J. Malls introduced you to illustrator Mozelle Thompson, while Brittany celebrated the children’s songs and chants chronicled in Shake It to the One That You Love the Best. Educator Patti Jo Rak explained once more for the people in the back why we need diverse books, and Carl completed the guest roster with a closer look at Maya Angelou as philosopher.
The regular blogging staff reviewed a lot of great books and media by and about Black history and culture. Kayla assured you that The Sisters Are Alright and pointed out the hard truths in The White Boy Shuffle. Abbey (Tears of a Tiger) and Jess (One Crazy Summer) read titles that counted towards their book challenge goals. Natalie awarded a gold crown to Princeless, while Leigh Anne opened up the poetry cabinet for some Mercurochrome. Melissa F. also pondered poetry with a closer look at Claudia Rankine’s Citizen. To round out the lineup, Kelly explored the recently reissued novel Oreo and Joelle took a trip in the mothership with George Clinton.
This month’s posts also discussed current events. Scott M. presented a list of African American media outlets to follow if you want to make your information diet a little more inclusive. Ginny looked at the state of African American fiction and film post-Hurricane Katrina. Tara took on the ongoing lack of diversity in the Oscars and Suzy invited you to her neighborhood for a special shoe-related storytime and craft party. Whitney wrote an essay for Pittsburgh’s many Teenie Harris fans, and Leigh Anne showed you how to use The African American Experience, a Library tool for learning more about all aspects of Black history and culture (including Teenie Harris).
Black History Month has come to an end, but our committment to making Eleventh Stack inclusive and welcoming for everybody continues year-round. Leave a comment and let the blog team know what you’d like to see more of in 2016; we’ll be back tomorrow to kick off March with books, movies, and more from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
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