Black History Month Must Reads!

In celebration of Black History Month,  the TWU History Department has recommended a list of books to help us learn about and honour the accomplishments of blacks throughout history and appreciate the diversity of our community.

Each week during the month of February, TWU Library will be highlighting these important and foundational works.

We hope that you will check out these titles!

Climbing Up to Glory: A Short History of African Americans During the Civil War and Reconstruction by Wilbert Jenkins.
This title explores the Civil War as a defining period that documented the journey of average African American as they struggled to reinvent their lives following the abolition of slavery. Jenkins examines the unflagging determination and inner strength of African Americans as they sought to construct a solid economic base for themselves and their families by establishing their own businesses and banks and strove to own their own land.

Colour-coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950 by Constance Backhouse.
Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today.

The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade (ebook) by Robert Harms.
This title reveals the complex workings of the slave trade by drawing on the private journal of First Lieutenant Robert Durand to recreate the macabre journey of a French slave ship in 1731. The author brings to life a world in which slavery was carried out without qualms: the gruesome details of daily life aboard a slave ship, French merchants wrangling for the right to traffic in slaves, African kings waging epic wars for control of slave trading posts, and representatives of European governments negotiating the complicated politics of the Guinea coast to ensure a steady supply of labor for their countries’ colonies.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.
This work of fiction tells the story of Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.

A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present by Elizabeth Isichei.
This foundational volume examines the origins and development of Christianity in Africa from the early story of Egyptian Christianity to the spectacular growth, vitality, and diversity of the churches in Africa today. The author discusses the churches founded in the wake of early contacts with Europe, from the late fifteenth century on, and the unbroken Christian witness of Coptic Egypt and of Ethiopia.