Black History Month 2024: Telling Black Stories | Chapel Hill Public Library

by Jemisin, N. K.

Book - 2018

"This first short story collection from the most celebrated speculative fiction author of our time features her signature blend of sharply observed, provocative tales of magic steeped in realism and social commentary." - LibraryReads "This first short story collection from the most celebrated speculative fiction author of our time features her signature blend of sharply observed, provocative tales of magic steeped in realism and social commentary." - LibraryReads Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Fire Next Time

by Baldwin, James

Book - 1963

"With clarity, conviction, and passion, James Baldwin delivers a dire warning of the effects of racism that remains urgent nearly sixty years after its original publication. " - Penguin Random House "With clarity, conviction, and passion, James Baldwin delivers a dire warning of the effects of racism that remains urgent nearly sixty years after its original publication. " - Penguin Random House Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Hell of A Book

Or the Altogether Factual, Wholly Bona Fide Story of A Big Dreams, Hard Luck, American-Made Mad Kid

by Mott, Jason

Book - 2021

"A Black writer's cross-country book tour becomes a profound exploration of love, friendship, and racial violence in America. As the author confront...Show more "A Black writer's cross-country book tour becomes a profound exploration of love, friendship, and racial violence in America. As the author confronts the politics of publishing and marketing, he begins to form an unlikely friendship with a Black boy he calls The Kid—as around them the country mourns another victim of police violence. As chapters alternate between the author’s and the Kid’s perspectives, their narratives slowly begin to merge, unfolding into a story that is at once a paean to familial love and friendship and a reckoning with racism and police violence." - Kirkus Reviews Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Native Guard

by Trethewey, Natasha D.

Book - 2007

"Through elegaic verse that honors her mother and tells of her own fraught childhood, Natasha Trethewey confronts the racial legacy of her native Dee...Show more "Through elegaic verse that honors her mother and tells of her own fraught childhood, Natasha Trethewey confronts the racial legacy of her native Deep South—--where one of the first black regiments, The Louisiana Native Guards, was called into service during the Civil War." - Harper Academic Show less

All copies in use Availability details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Erasure

by Everett, Percival

Book - 2001

"A dark satire on race relations and publishing. Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is a gifted writer of experimental fiction whose commercial succe...Show more "A dark satire on race relations and publishing. Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is a gifted writer of experimental fiction whose commercial success is hampered by his not being "black" enough for the (mostly white) literary world. Everett makes good use of his literary antecedents, most notably Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, reworking their themes in intriguing ways." - Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire

The Journals of Alice Walker, 1965-2000

by Walker, Alice

Book - 2022

"Over three decades of journal entries from Pulitzer Prize-winner Alice Walker come together in this impressive compendium. Walker meticulously docu...Show more "Over three decades of journal entries from Pulitzer Prize-winner Alice Walker come together in this impressive compendium. Walker meticulously documents her own questions and doubts about writing, as well: “Why is it we always feel embarrassed by what we write?” Taken together, the entries offer a moving look at Walker ’s process and milieu; as editor Boyd poignantly writes in the introduction, the journals are “both a deeply personal journey and an intimate history of our time.” - Publisher's Weekly Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Bitter Root

by Walker, David

Graphic Novel - 2019-

"Following a mysterious tragedy that sees many of their kin lost or killed, the surviving members of the Sangerye clan suffer an ideological split as...Show more "Following a mysterious tragedy that sees many of their kin lost or killed, the surviving members of the Sangerye clan suffer an ideological split as to how to proceed, with some cousins remaining in Harlem, continuing to brew herbal remedies in the apothecary shop they use as a headquarters to cure their enemies, and others wandering through the American South, gladly destroying their foes wherever they find them. When a terrible new enemy emerges, they're forced to reunite in a battle for the souls of every man, woman, and child on the planet." - Library Journal Show less

All copies in use Availability details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Things Fall Apart

by Achebe, Chinua

Book - 1959

"Written with quiet dignity that builds to a climax of tragic force, this book about the dissolution of an African tribe, its traditions, and values...Show more "Written with quiet dignity that builds to a climax of tragic force, this book about the dissolution of an African tribe, its traditions, and values, represents a welcome departure from the familiar "Me, white brother" genre. Written by a Nigerian African trained in missionary schools, this novel tells quietly the story of a brave man, Okonkwo, whose life has absolute validity in terms of his culture, and who exercises his prerogative as a warrior, father, and husband with unflinching single mindedness." - Kirkus Review Show less

All copies in use Availability details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Caste

The Origins of Our Discontents

by Wilkerson, Isabel

Book - 2020

"In this powerful and extraordinarily timely social history, Pulitzer winner Wilkerson (The Warmth of Other Suns) investigates the origins, evolution...Show more "In this powerful and extraordinarily timely social history, Pulitzer winner Wilkerson (The Warmth of Other Suns) investigates the origins, evolution, and inner workings of America’s “shape-shifting, unspoken” caste system. Tracking the inception of the country’s race-based “ranking of human value” to the arrival of the first slave ship in 1619, Wilkerson draws on the works of anthropologists, geneticists, and social economists to uncover the arbitrariness of racial divisions, and finds startling parallels to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany." - Publisher's Weekly Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Chameleon Couch

Poems

by Komunyakaa, Yusef

Book - 2011

"In a warm, vernacular voice that often soars to dizzying intellectual and poetic strata, Komunyakaa shares powerful experiences that take us to the ...Show more "In a warm, vernacular voice that often soars to dizzying intellectual and poetic strata, Komunyakaa shares powerful experiences that take us to the bar, street, bedroom, kitchen, and across the planet—his image-rich, verbal music moving in and out of brilliant confusion like the blues and jazz he loves." - Harvard Review Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Slumberland

by Beatty, Paul

Book - 2008

"DJ Darky, a Los Angeles musician who creates beats from found sounds, travels to Berlin, Germany, in search of his avant-garde idol, Charles Stone, ...Show more "DJ Darky, a Los Angeles musician who creates beats from found sounds, travels to Berlin, Germany, in search of his avant-garde idol, Charles Stone, aka the Schwa . Shortly after discovering the Schwa's beat in a mysterious envelope, DJ Darky sends a demo with his own infallible sound to the Slumberland Bar in Berlin as an application for the position of "jukebox sommelier," for which he's immediately accepted. Beatty takes us into pre-Wall Berlin and finishes just after liberation, ending in a crescendo of incomprehensible rhythm from DJ Darky and the Schwa's collaboration that re-creates a metaphorical wall. The narrative touches on oppression and the inexplicable, transcendent power of music, both of which translate to the American race struggle." - Library Journal Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Sula

by Morrison, Toni

Book - 2002

"At the heart of Sula is a bond between two women, a friendship whose intensity first sustains, then injures. Sula and Nel are both black, both smart...Show more "At the heart of Sula is a bond between two women, a friendship whose intensity first sustains, then injures. Sula and Nel are both black, both smart, and both poor. Through their girlhood years, they share everything. All this changes when Sula gets out of the Bottom, the hilltop neighborhood where there hides a fierce resentment at the invisible line that cannot be overstepped." - NoveList Show less

All copies in use Availability details Holds: 2 on 1 copy

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Souls of Black Folk

by Du Bois, W. E. B.

Downloadable Audiobook - 2008

"Personal recollections are included in this work depicting the spirit, status, and problems of African Americans since emancipation and reflecting on the history of race and democracy in America." - NoveList "Personal recollections are included in this work depicting the spirit, status, and problems of African Americans since emancipation and reflecting on the history of race and democracy in America." - NoveList Show less

Available

Check out

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Salvage the Bones

by Ward, Jesmyn

Book - 2011

"An evocative novel of a family torn apart by grief, hardship, misunderstanding and, soon, the biggest storm any of them has ever seen. Set over a d...Show more "An evocative novel of a family torn apart by grief, hardship, misunderstanding and, soon, the biggest storm any of them has ever seen. Set over a dozen days while awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, and then dealing with its consequences." - Kirkus Review Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Black Panther Party

A Graphic Novel History

by Walker, David

Graphic Novel - 2021

"This nuanced, accessible history of the Black Panther Party doesn’t shy away from the complexity of the political movement, nor does it fall into th...Show more "This nuanced, accessible history of the Black Panther Party doesn’t shy away from the complexity of the political movement, nor does it fall into the trap of painting the diverse group as uniformly heroes or villains. Artist Kwame Anderson balances text and images skillfully, and even the wordiest sections feel spacious, while he lends cinematic visual pacing to the many heated interactions between activists and police." - Publisher's Weekly Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Zami

A New Spelling of My Name

by Lorde, Audre

Book - 1982

"In a title that combines autobiography and fiction, activist, writer, and librarian Lorde describes her life as a daughter of immigrants and as a le...Show more "In a title that combines autobiography and fiction, activist, writer, and librarian Lorde describes her life as a daughter of immigrants and as a lesbian in 1950s Harlem. She expresses the loneliness of being an outsider and the discovery of a talent for writing that shaped her life." - Library Journal Show less

All copies in use Availability details

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Black Boy

American Hunger : A Record of Childhood and Youth

by Wright, Richard

eBook - 2009

"Traces the author's coming of age in the Jim Crow-era South, a period during which he struggled to survive while journeying from innocence to adulthood." - NoveList "Traces the author's coming of age in the Jim Crow-era South, a period during which he struggled to survive while journeying from innocence to adulthood." - NoveList Show less

Not Currently Available.Holds: 0 on 1 copy

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

The Polished Hoe

by Clarke, Austin

Book - 2003

"When Mary Mathilda of the West Indies' Birnshire Island confesses to killing a powerful sugar plantation owner, whom she has served for more than th...Show more "When Mary Mathilda of the West Indies' Birnshire Island confesses to killing a powerful sugar plantation owner, whom she has served for more than thirty years and who is the father of her grown son, she sets off a devastating all-night vigil." - NoveList Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Black Livin'

by Nyemb, Jacques

Book - 2022

All copies in use Availability details

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Frank Holster Mysteries

by Nyemb, Jacques

Graphic Novel - 2022

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Breath of the Song

New and Selected Poems

by Green, Jaki Shelton

Book - 2005

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Conjure Blues

Poems

by Green, Jaki Shelton

Book - 1996

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

Hush Harbor

by Vance, Anise

Book - 2023

"When racism explodes and it feels like the world is on fire, siblings Jeremiah and Nova decide to form a resistance group in an abandoned housing pr...Show more "When racism explodes and it feels like the world is on fire, siblings Jeremiah and Nova decide to form a resistance group in an abandoned housing project. But differences about how to move forward divide the group, threatening to derail their work. The group must find a way forward without becoming like the enemy." - Library Reads Show less

Available in some locations

Place hold

Add to My For Later Shelf On my shelf

https://chapelhillpl.librarycalendar.com/event/telling-black-stories-local-author-panel-8682

Web Resource

What do you think of when you hear the phrase “Black Stories”? And how do those stories capture the Black experience? Stories are as diverse and varied as...Show more What do you think of when you hear the phrase “Black Stories”? And how do those stories capture the Black experience? Stories are as diverse and varied as the people who create them. Join us for a panel about the diversity of voices and stories within the Black community. We will talk with three Black storytellers as they share their experiences, their stories and their creative journeys. Show less