LibGuides: Cultural Calendar: BLACK HISTORY MONTH: CELEBRATING THE ARTS

THE POWER OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION

ART, IMAGINATION, AND THE QUEST FOR RACIAL JUSTICE "Art has been a powerful tool in the Black Lives Matter movement because it has the power to change how we perceive ourselves, how we think about belonging and representation, and how we imagine the future."

WRITERS

Black Male Writers of Our Time A 2018 multimedia feature piece from the NY Times that brought together 32 black male writers whoare producing literature that is essential to how we understand our country and its place in the world right now.

VIDEOS

Theaster Gates is a potter whose ambitions stretch far beyond the wheel and the kiln. In Chicago, his leadership of artist-led spaces has catalyzed interest and excitement in a formerly neglected neighborhood, as he uses culture as a transformational weapon.

Dance can elevate our human experience beyond words," says Judith Jamison, artistic director emerita of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In between performances of excerpts from Alvin Ailey's classic works "Revelations" and "Cry," Jamison reflects on the enduring power of dance to transform history into art that thrills audiences around the world.

The New School's Office of Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice was honored to host legendary poet, educator, and activist Nikki Giovanni for a special Black History Month 2021 conversation. Giovanni, one of the country’s most widely read poets and one of America’s most renowned poets

Meet Ava Holloway and Kennedy George, the Teens Whose Photo Dancing On a Confederate Monument Went Viral "Last month, a photo of two 14-year-old Black ballerinas—Ava Holloway and Kennedy George—dancing on Richmond, Virginia’s Robert E. Lee monument lit up social media as Black Lives Matter protests seared through the U.S. The dancers, clad in all black, stood balanced in sous-sus with their fists raised while the structure awaited its still-anticipated toppling." Lydia Murray in Dance Magazine, 7/29/20

Jacob Lawrence and the American Struggle This website accompanies a recent exhibit at The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. "In 1949, seven years after a meteoric rise to national attention with his epic Migration Series, the leading American painter Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000), began research at the New York Public Library for a new series. "
How Images Shape Our Understanding of Justice
In her TED Talk How Images Shape Our Understanding of Justice, Professor Sarah Lewis discusses the power that art and images have to make us see ourselves and our society differently. She says:

MUSICIANS

An Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance "Tracing the poetic work of this crucial cultural and artistic movement."
History of Ragtime From the Library of Congress
Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition
The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America
African American Gospel
African American Song "African Americans make up the single largest racial minority in the United States. [1] From slave era field hollers, spirituals, and gospel, to blues, soul, and hip-hop, American musical culture abounds with the influence of African American song." From the Library of Congress
Primary Source Set: Visual Art During the Harlem Renaissance This collection uses primary sources to explore visual art during the Harlem Renaissance. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States.
Music and Films of the Harlem Renaissance This collection uses primary sources to explore visual art during the Harlem Renaissance. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States.
It's Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope, and Empowerment Collection From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "In every generation, Black rock and roll artists have elevated the conversation about race, equality, justice, and peace. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2020 exhibit “It’s Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope, & Empowerment” shows how musical artists have channeled the power of rock & roll to respond to racism from the roots of rock to today."
Motown: The music that changed America "Sixty years ago, Berry Gordy set up the hit factory of Motown. Arwa Haider looks at how an independent record label created one of the most influential sounds of the 20th Century." a BBC report
The Motown Story: How Berry Gordy Jr. Created the Legendary Label From Rolling Stone