At the Midhurst chapter of the Springwater Public Library, staff is making it easy to learn about Black History Month.
They’ve set up three displays — children, teens and adults — with books they recommend.
The children’s display features a dozen titles, but one small illustrated children’s book captures the essence of what Black History Month is all about.
The thin book, titled Who was Rosa Parks?, details Parks’ refusal, in 1955 to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala.
That one small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned Parks the title “mother of the civil rights movement.”
It’s just one of more than 100 books the Springwater library service has that looks at or chronicles the Black experience in Canada and the United States.
“One of my favourites is The Hidden Figures, the true story of four Black women and the space race,” said Katie Moore, library assistant at the Midhurst chapter. “It was a popular movie a number of years ago, but this is a great picture book that can introduce children to the story.”
Author Margot Lee Shetterly’s story chronicles the efforts of four female African American mathematicians — Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden.
They joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and contributed to some of the space agency’s greatest successes — like providing the calculations for America's first journeys into space.
Beautifully illustrated, the book explores the story of four women and how they overcame gender and racial barriers to succeed in a highly challenging STEM-based career.
Over in the teens section, the library has arranged a selection of titles, including The Hate U Give and On the Come Up, both by Angie Thomas, and the March series, a groundbreaking graphic-novel memoir by the civil rights champion American Congressman John Lewis, who died in 2020.
“There are three books in the collection and they’re incredibly engaging,” said Moore. “Graphic novels are a great, powerful way to tell a story and they’re great for teens. The artwork is very compelling.”
In the adult section, there’s a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction available.
Moore heartily recommends Any Known Blood, a work by Canadian author Lawrence Hill, who also wrote The Book of Negroes.
“Any Known Blood is a wonderful generational story,” she said. “It shows the challenges, year over year, that one Black family has faced — the struggles, the oppression and how it impacts their family and their lives.”
Moore’s library co-worker, Kathy Cook, recommended The Help, by American author Kathryn Stockett. She said the book provides a real insight on how Black people from the Deep South of the United States have had to live their lives because of their colour.
“It’s not a happy story because there are a lot of times where they were not treated with respect because of their colour,” Cook said. “It’s one of my favourite books.”
While February is officially Black History Month, Moore says readers can pick up these titles any time.
“I think it’s important to highlight these stories all year round,” she said.
