Black History in North America Booklist

A blog post by Tiffany Tse

In light of Black History Month in February, we have curated a booklist for Black History in North America in recognition that Black History should be known and heard throughout the year.

Black History Month originally began in the United States as Negro History Week by Carter G. Woodson, an African American historian and a founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). The week in February was chosen to follow the Black community’s tradition of commemorating the birthdays of Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist who fought for freedom from slavery and the equal rights of women, and Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th president of the United States who also fought for the end of slavery. The week-long event evolved into a month in 1976.

In Canada, the first Black History Month was celebrated in 1988 in Nova Scotia. Canada officially recognized February as Black History Month in December 1995 to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians to Canadian heritage and culture, since the arrival of Mathieu Da Costa, an interpreter known as the first African person in Canada back in the early 1600s. Black History Month is now an annual celebration with events taking place for people of all ages across Canada.

This booklist features teacher resources, fiction and non-fiction picture books, middle grade, and young adult books relevant to Black History in Canada and the United States. It celebrates the contributions of civil rights activists, musicians, students, and more. The list can be found under Social Studies on our UBC Education Library Booklists webpage located in the Instructional Planning section of our Education Library website.

We hope this booklist is helpful and our librarians would be happy to chat more about Black History books with you. Feel free to contact us at ed.lib@ubc.ca.

Sources

• How did Black History Month come to be? – CBC Team
• Black History Month – Government of Canada
• Origins of Black History Month – Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)