Black History Month: Selections from Our Students and Librarians to Read, Listen to, and Watch

“These are all selections made by our student workers for Black History Month,” says Access Services Associate Nebraska Chatham gesturing to a long wooden shelf lined with a brightly colored row of books, CDs, and DVDs in the main entrance of the Harold F. Johnson Library. “We wanted to make sure our student voices were represented. Next year, I would love to open it up to a survey and hear from even more students across campus.” 

“Students picked works that were impactful or meaningful to them or the larger dialogue,” says Chatham. “As you can see, there’s a wide blend of types of work by Black artists and authors.” 

The first student selection on display is the graphic novel Wash Day Diaries by writer Jamila Rowser and Hampshire alum and comic artist Robyn Smith 11F, which has been described as, “a love letter to the beauty and endurance of Black women, their friendships, and their hair.” Next to it stands another Robyn Smith title co-authored with L.L. McKinney, Nubia: real one, which tells the story of a young Black superhero trying to be a hero when society treats her as a threat. 

“This display really shows the branching history. We have more modern works, then we have hymns,” Chatham says, picking up Jessye Norman’s Amazing Grace album, “and films like The Last Poets: Made in Amerikkka, which follows poets and musicians during the civil rights era all the way through to their influence on hip-hop music and pop culture.” Works in the student-organized collection span a wide range of topics, timelines, and media:

• Wash Day Diaries, Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith 11F (Book)
• Nubia: real one, Robyn Smith 11F and L.L. McKinney (Book)
• Amazing Grace, Jessye Norman (Album)
• Don’t Call Us Dead, Danez Smith (Book)
• The Central Park Five, directed by Sarah Burns, Ken Burns 71F, and David Mcmahon (Film)
• Strange Fruit, Volume I: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History, Joel Christian Gill (Book)
• The Last Poets: Made in Amerikkka, Claude Santiago (Film)
• Kind of Blue, Miles Davis (Album)
• Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II (Book)
• Brother to Brother, Rodney Evans (Film)

In addition to the student choices, Chatham personally selected a range of works to display throughout the library. “Curating had its difficulties,” they admit with a smile, “the challenge was in deciding exactly which works to display when there’s such a wealth of possibilities.” 

But for Chatham, broad representation was key. Among their picks are renowned activist, author, and essayist Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider, scores by jazz legend Miles Davis, and award-winning books like Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, a self-described, “Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist.”

“I want people to examine and understand how so much of what we, as a society, value is ultimately rooted in Black culture,” said Chatham. “Take for example [musician] Harry Styles, K-pop, and the beauty or furniture industries, even public parks. There’s very little you can look at in today’s society that’s not deeply connected to Black history.”

All of the Black History Month selections are always available on loan through the Hampshire library and the Five College Libraries. In addition to the College’s in-person display, library staff members have curated a digital offering that can be viewed as a resource guide on the Hampshire College website. The guide represents only a small portion of our collection, and they have tried to highlight some Black authors and creators who you may not have heard of before or who have connections to Hampshire alongside more recognizable names. If you are interested in finding materials beyond these, email askharold@hampshire.edu.