The Point Books
Today’s books from The Point where Mindy, Melanie, and I were discussing books to read for National African-American History Month. If you think we didn’t talk about all these books, you would be right if you listened in the morning. We were up against Pledge Drive, so the full show will air at 7:30 this evening or you can listen to the podcast.
Jill’s Picks
Picture Books
Bad News for Outlaws : the remarkable life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshall by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson ; illustrations by R. Gregory Christie.
The Steel Pan Man of Harlem by Colin Bootman
Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton & Raul Colon
Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
Adult Books
The Black Book by Middleton A. Harris, with the assistance of Morris Levitt, Roger Furman, Ernest Smith ; with a new foreword by Toni Morrison ; including the original introduction by Bill Cosby.
We Shall Overcome by Herb Boyd (includes audio CDs)
Letters From Black America edited by Pamela Newkirk (Includes Alice Walker’s letter to President-Elect Barack Obama, p. 170)
Mrs. O : the face of fashion democracy by Mary Tomer ; designed by Rodrigo Corral Design. (The blog that started the book can be found at mrs-o.org)
Black Hands, White Sails : the story of African-American whalers by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack.
The Other Islanders: people who pulled Nantucket’s oars by Frances Ruley Karttunen. (Frances Karttunen will be speaking at the library on Saturday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m.!)
FInding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at home on an island by Jill Nelson
Melanie’s Picks
The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by Ira Berlin
The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships by Hill Harper
A Day Late and A Dollar Short: high hopes and deferred dreams in Obama’s ‘postracial’ America by Robert E. Pierre and Jon Jeter
Ten Hills Farm: the forgotten history of slavery in the North by C.S. Manegold
The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: quest for freedom, 1939-1976 by Paul Robeson Jr.
The Face of Our Past: images of black women from colonial America to the present edited by Kathleen Thompson and Hilary Mac Austin
Children’s Books
Sunday is for God by Michael McGowan
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli
Claudette Colvin: twice toward justice by Phillip Hoose