Focus on African-American History

BHPL's monthly display focuses on African-American history this month. Here is a sampling of what's on the shelf:

Taylor Branch's Martin Luther King, Jr. trilogy. Parting the Waters (which won the Pulitzer Prize), Pillar of Fire, and At Canaan's Edge form a history of America during the King years.

Speak, So You Can Speak Again by Lucy Anne Hurston. A biography of Zora Neale Hurston filled with primary documents, including maps, facsimiles of her writings, and a CD of her speaking and singing.

The Civil Rights Movement: a Photographic History by Steven Kasher. Ten essays accompany over 150 photos, both famous and lesser-known ones, collected from photo agencies, galleries, and private collections.

African-American Art by Sharon Patton. Part of the Oxford History of Art series, this is a survey of African-American art focusing on its historical, political, and cultural setting.

Triumph by Jeremy Schaap. The ESPN anchor has written a biography of Jesse Owens, winner of the 1936 Berlin Olympics in track, that has been called both "dramatic" and "definitive" by reviewers.

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years by Sarah and Annie Delany. Born in the 1890s, these sisters grew up on the campus of a black college in Raleigh, then moved to New York, where they experienced the Harlem Renaissance. Bessie was the only black female student at the Columbia University Dental School in the 20s; Sadie became the first black domestic science teacher in the New York City high schools.