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  African American History Month (Feb)  

2024 Theme

  African Americans and the Arts   

     African American History Month is celebrated each February since 1926 when Dr. Carter G. Woodson sought to commemorate the contributions of people of African descent in the United States.

    The  2024 theme, “African Americans and the Arts," explores the key influence African Americans have had in the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film, music, architecture, culinary and other forms of cultural expression.

     The following is a selected list of recently published books, videos, and websites that will help you learn more about African American history with an emphasis on this year’s theme. All books and videos are available at the Norfolk Public Library, and the websites may be viewed online at any of the public computer stations located in the library or from home. Additional assistance is available at your local branch library.

     The Sargeant Memorial Collection staff members at the Norfolk Public Library can also provide assistance researching local African-American history and genealogy.

A D U L T     N O N F I C T I O N  

Illustrated Black History: Honoring the Iconic and the Unseen

George McCalman
Format: Hardcover

From an award-winning graphic designer comes this gorgeous collection that celebrates African Americans and their contributions - many little known - to politics, science, literature, music, and other fields, complemented by stunning illustrations.Illustrated Black History is a comprehensive...
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Music Is History

Questlove
Format: Hardcover

In Music Is History, bestselling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past fifty years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each...
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Black TV: Five Decades of Groundbreaking Television from Soul Train to Black-ish and Beyond

Bethonie Butler - Black Dog & Leventhal
Format: Hardcover

With iconic imagery and engrossing text, Black TV is the first book of its kind to celebrate the groundbreaking, influential, and often under-appreciated shows centered on Black people and their experiences from the last fifty years. Over the past decade, television has seen an explosion...
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Misty Copeland: Power and Grace

Richard Corman - Michael Friedman Group
Format: Hardcover

Power and grace define Misty Copeland -- an influential ballet dancer who has broken through difficult barriers to become the first female African-American to be promoted to principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. Misty has proven adversity can be conquered by reaching higher and working...
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The Black Box: Writing the Race

Henry Louis Gates Jr. - Penguin Audio
Format: Hardcover

A magnificent, foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves, in resistance to the lies of racism and often in heated disagreement with each other, over the course of the country's history. Distilled over many years from...
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Supreme Actresses: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood

Marcellas Reynolds - Abrams
Format: Hardcover

From the author of Supreme Models comes the first-ever art book dedicated to celebrating Black actresses and exploring their experiences in acting. Through stunning photographs, personal interviews, short biographies, and career milestones, Supreme Actresses chronicles the most influential...
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Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking

Toni Tipton-Martin - Clarkson Potter
Format: Hardcover

Adapted from historical texts and rare African-American cookbooks, the 125 recipes of Jubilee paint a rich, varied picture of the true history of African-American cooking: a cuisine far beyond soul food.Toni Tipton-Martin, the first African-American food editor of a daily American...
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What Have We Here?: Portraits of a Life

Billy Dee Williams - Random House Audio
Format: Book

A film legend recalls his remarkable life of nearly eight decades - a heralded actor who's played the roles he wanted, from Brian's Song to Lando in the Star Wars universe - unchecked by the racism and typecasting so rife in the mostly all-white industry in which he triumphed.Billy...

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Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song

Judith Tick - W. W. Norton & Company
Format: Hardcover

A landmark biography that reclaims Ella Fitzgerald as a major American artist and modernist innovator.Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) possessed one of the twentieth century's most astonishing voices. In this first major biography since Fitzgerald's death, historian Judith Tick offers...
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Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem: A Memoir

Daniel R. Day

With his now-legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem, Dapper Dan pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remixing classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative, glamorous designs. But before he reinvented haute couture, he was a hungry boy with holes in his shoes, a teen who daringly...
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Vintage Black Glamour

Nichelle Gainer - Rocket 88
Format: Print book

Using rarely accessed photographic archives and private collections, inspired by her family history, Nichelle Gainer has unearthed a revealing treasure trove of historic photographs of famous actors, dancers, writers and entertainers who worked in the 20th-century entertainment business,...
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Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

Michael Harriot - ‎Dey Street Books
Format: Hardcover

From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.America's backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted...
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The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

JENIFER LEWIS - Amistad
Format: Hardcover

The "Mega Diva" and legendary star of Black-ish looks back on her memorable journey to fame and the unforgettable life lessons she learned along the way.Jenifer Lewis keeps it real in this provocative and touching memoir by a mid-western girl with a dream whose journey from poverty...
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Kwame Brathwaite: Black Is Beautiful

Kwame Brathwaite - Aperture
Format: Hardcover

In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, Kwame Brathwaite used his photography to popularize the political slogan "Black Is Beautiful." This monograph -- the first ever dedicated to Brathwaite's remarkable career -- tells the story of a key, but under-recognized, figure of the second...
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I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiography Of Nina Simone

Nina Simone - Da Capo Press
Format: Paperback

A gorgeous, inimitable singer and songwriter, Nina Simone (1933-2003) changed the face of both music and race relations in America. She struck a chord with bluesy jazz ballads like "Put a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and powerful protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam"...
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Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora

Bryant Terry - 4 Color Books
Format: Hardcover

In this stunning and deeply heartfelt tribute to Black culinary ingenuity, Bryant Terry captures the broad and divergent voices of the African Diaspora through the prism of food. With contributions from more than 100 Black cultural luminaires from around the globe, the book moves through...
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Will

Will Smith - Penguin Press
Format: Hardcover

Will Smith's transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest rap stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner...
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Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island

Emily Meggett - Abrams
Format: Hardcover

The first major Gullah Geechee cookbook from "the matriarch of Edisto Island," who provides delicious recipes and the history of an overlooked American communityThe history of the Gullah and Geechee people stretches back centuries, when enslaved members of this community were...
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Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography

Staci Robinson - Crown
Format: Hardcover

The first and only estate-authorized biography of the legendary artist, Tupac Shakur, a moving exploration of his life and powerful legacy, fully illustrated with photos, mementos, handwritten poetry, musings, and more. Artist, poet, actor, revolutionary, legendTupac Shakur is one of the greatest...
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What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays

Young, Damon - ECCO PR
Format: Book

A Finalist for the NAACP Image Award

A Finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction

A Finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor

Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award...

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The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story

Nikole Hannah-Jones - One World
Format: Hardcover

In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred...
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You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays

Zora Neale Hurston - Amistad
Format: Hardcover

Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr. Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive...
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African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song

Kevin Young - Library of America
Format: Hardcover

Only now, in the 21st century, can we fully grasp the breadth and range of African American poetry: a magnificent chorus of voices, some familiar, others recently rescued from neglect. Here, in this unprecedented anthology expertly selected by poet and scholar Kevin Young, this precious...
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How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: Essays

Kiese Laymon
Format: Paperback

Brilliant and uncompromising, piercing and funny, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America is essential reading. This newedition of award-winning author Kiese Laymon's first work of nonfiction looks inward, drawing heavily on the author and his family's experiences, while...
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The Most Defining Moments in Black History According to Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory - Amistad
Format: Book

  With his trademark acerbic wit, incisive humor, and infectious paranoia, one of our foremost comedians and most politically engaged civil rights activists looks back at 100 key events from the complicated history of black America. A friend of luminaries including Dr. Martin Luther...
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Black Firsts: 500 years of Trailblazing Achievements and Ground-Breaking Events

Jessie Carney Smith Ph.D. - Visible Ink Press
Format: Paperback

The first African American president, U.S. senator, and the first black lawyer in the Department of Education. The first black chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first African American commissioned officer in the Marine Corps. The first black professors in a variety of fields....
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The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health: Navigate an Unequal System, Learn Tools for Emotional Wellness, and Get the Help You Deserve

Walker, Rheeda - NEW HARBINGER PUBN


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Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Kathleen M Kendrick - Smithsonian Books
Format: Print book

This fully illustrated guide to the Smithsonian's newest museum takes visitors on a journey through the richness and diversity of African American culture and the history of a people whose struggles, aspirations, and achievements have shaped the nation. Opened in September 2016, the National...
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A D U L T     F I C T I O N  

Black Cake: A Novel

Charmaine Wilkerson - Ballantine Books
Format: Hardcover

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story...
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Take My Hand

Dolen Perkins-Valdez - Berkley
Format: Hardcover

"Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gaze ... an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption." - Celeste NgA searing and compassionate new novel about a young Black nurse's shocking discovery and burning quest for justice in post-segregation Alabama, from...
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Let Us Descend: A Novel

Jesmyn Ward - Scribner
Format: Hardcover

From Jesmyn Ward - the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow - comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.. "'Let us descend,'...
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The Color Purple: A Novel

Alice Walker - Penguin Books
Format: Paperback

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Alice Walker's iconic modern classic is now a Penguin Book.A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated...
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The Coldest Winter Ever: A Novel

Sister Souljah - Washington Square Press
Format: Paperback

New York Times Bestseller
USA TODAY Bestseller

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

'50...

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Yonder: A Novel

Jabari Asim - Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover

They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors' tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own. In a world that would be allegorical if it weren't saturated in harsh truths, Cato and William meet at Placid...
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Perish: A Novel

LaToya Watkins - Tiny Reparations Books
Format: Hardcover

From a stunning new voice, comes a powerful debut novel, Perish, about a Black Texan family, exploring the effects of inherited trauma and intergenerational violence as the family comes together to say goodbye to their matriarch on her deathbed.Bear it or perish. Those are the words Helen...
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The American Queen

Vanessa Miller - Thomas Nelson
Format: Hardcover

In 1869 a kingdom rose in the South. And Louella was its queen.Over the twenty-four years she was enslaved on the Montgomery Plantation, Louella learned to feel one thing: hate. Hate for the man who sold her mother. Hate for the overseer who left her daddy to hang from a noose. Hate so powerful...
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The New Naturals

Gabriel Bump - Algonquin Books
Format: Hardcover

For readers of Paul Beatty's The Sellout and Percival Everett's The Trees, a moving and darkly funny novel about an attempt to found a Black Utopia, from the award-winning author of Everywhere You Don't Belong, one of the most exciting new voices on the literary landscape.....
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Hell of a Book

Jason Mott
Format: Book

A work of fiction goes to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon Black Americans, and America as a whole.

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Time's Undoing: A Novel

Cheryl A. Head - Dutton
Format: Hardcover

A searing and tender novel about a young Black journalist's search for answers in the unsolved murder of her great-grandfather in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, decades ago - inspired by the author's own family history Birmingham, 1929: Robert Lee Harrington, a master carpenter,...
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The Violin Conspiracy

Brendan Slocumb - Anchor
Format: Hardcover

Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a professional musician. Not his mother, who thinks he should get a real job, not the fact that he can't afford a high-caliber violin, not the racism inherent in the classical...
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Symphony of Secrets

Brendan Slocumb - Anchor
Format: Hardcover

From the celebrated author of book club favorite The Violin Conspiracy: A gripping page-turner about a professor who uncovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time - that his music was stolen from a young Black composer named Josephine Reed. Determined to uncover...
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My Monticello: Fiction

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson - Henry Holt and Co.
Format: Hardcover

Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson's precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, "My Monticello," tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors...
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The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Novel

Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - Harper
Format: Hardcover

The 2020 National Book Award-nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic - an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer - that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries...
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Lot: Stories

Bryan Washington - Riverhead Books
Format: Paperback

One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year" "Phenomenal" --Justin Torres, author of We the Animals"Brilliant" --Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Here Comes the Sun"A profound exploration of the true meaning of borders." - The New York Times...
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Lakewood: A Novel

Megan Giddings - Amistad
Format: Hardcover

A startling debut about class and race, Lakewood evokes a terrifying world of medical experimentation - part The Handmaid's Tale, part The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.When Lena Johnson's beloved grandmother dies, and the full extent of the family debt is revealed, the black millennial...
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Harlem Shuffle: A Novel

Colson Whitehead - Doubleday
Format: Hardcover

"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked . . ."To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their...
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J U V E N I L E 

Big

Vashti Harrison - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Filled with truth, beauty, joy, and acceptance, this is a tour de force from bestselling and award-winning creator Vashti Harrison. . The first picture book written and illustrated by award-winning and creator Vashti Harrison traces a child's journey to self-love and shows the power...
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Young, Gifted and Black Too: Meet 52 More Black Icons from Past and Present

Jamia Wilson - ‎Wide Eyed Editions
Format: Hardcover

In this timely follow-up to the best-selling, genre-defining Young, Gifted and Black, you can meet 52 more Black icons from around the world - this time spanning even more countries and including inspiring figures from as far back as the 1500s right up to present-day heroes. Featuring...
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Curlfriends: New in Town (A Graphic Novel)

Sharee Miller - Little, Brown Ink
Format: Book

New Kid meets The Baby-sitters Club in this graphic novel series opener about the Curlfriends, four inseparable Black girls who show us the meaning of true friendship - and being your true self.. Charlie has a foolproof plan for the first day at her new middle school. Even though she's...

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There Was a Party for Langston

Jason Reynolds - Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Format: Hardcover

New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds's debut picture book is a snappy, joyous ode to Word King, literary genius, and glass-ceiling smasher Langston Hughes and the luminaries he inspired.. Back in the day, there was a heckuva party, a jam, for a word-making...
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Who Was Langston Hughes?

Billy Merrell - Penguin Workshop
Format: Paperback

Find out how a young boy from the Midwest became one of the most important writers and activists of the Harlem Renaissance in this addition to the #1 New York Times bestselling series!. Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, and was raised by his grandmother, who told him many stories...
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The ABCs of Black History

Rio Cortez - Workman Publishing Company
Format: Hardcover

Brimming with passion, beauty, flow, and style, here is an ABC book like no other - a celebration of Black history and culture in lively verse, matched with illustrations that are each like a folk painting. Written by the poet Rio Cortez and illustrated by Lauren Semmer, the book teaches...
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We Could Fly

Rhiannon Giddens - Candlewick
Format: Hardcover

In a companion to Build a House, Rhiannon Giddens - Grammy Award winner and cofounder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops - gives wing to a moving tale of grace and transcendence, with acclaimed artist Briana Mukodiri Uchendu.. At a sparrow's urging, a young girl feels a mysterious trembling...
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Freewater

Amina Luqman-Dawson - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Debut author Amina Luqman-Dawson pens a lyrical, accessible historical middle-grade novel about two enslaved children's escape from a plantation and themany ways they find freedom.Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada,...
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My Little Golden Book About Misty Copeland

Sherri L. Smith - Golden Books
Format: Hardcover

Help your little one dream big with a Little Golden Book biography all about Misty Copeland, the American Ballet Theatre's first Black principal dancer! The perfect introduction to nonfiction for preschoolers!This Little Golden Book introduces ballet prodigy Misty Copeland to the youngest...
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Ordinary Days: The Seeds, Sound, and City That Grew Prince Rogers Nelson

Angela Joy - Roaring Brook Press
Format: Hardcover

A rhythmic, striking picture book biography of legendary singer/songwriter/performer Prince.Before he became a legend, he was just a boy ... . On an ordinary day, you could see him. A young boy named Prince Rogers Nelson, who had parents who fought, nowhere to call home, and a collection...
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Chef Edna: Queen of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis

Melvina Noel - Cameron Kids
Format: Hardcover

A warm and inviting picture-book portrait of African American culinary legend Edna Lewis, who brought Southern cooking to the masses. Edna loved to cook. Growing up on a farm in Freetown, Virginia, she learned the value of fresh, local, seasonal food from her Mama Daisy, how to measure...
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Rock, Rosetta, Rock! Roll, Rosetta, Roll!: Presenting Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock & Roll

Tonya Bolden - HarperCollins
Format: Hardcover

"A profile as bold and vivacious as the singer herself." - Kirkus (starred review) Perfect for fans of Trombone Shorty and Ada's Violin!Award-winning author Tonya Bolden and acclaimed illustrator R. Gregory Christie deliver an inspiring true story about the life, career,...
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Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life

Jerry Pinkney - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

An inspiring memoir of one of the most acclaimed children's book illustrators of all time, sharing the story of a young artist who finds the courage to follow his passion against all odds. Jerry Pinkney drew everywhere, all the time. It was how he made sense of the world - how he coped...
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To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights

Angela Dalton - HarperCollins
Format: Hardcover

Perfect for fans of Hidden Figures and Mae Among the Stars! To Boldly Go tells the true story of Nichelle Nichols and how she used her platform on Star Trek to inspire and recruit a new generation of diverse astronauts and many others in the space and STEM fields. As Lieutenant Uhura on the iconic...
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This Is Tap!: Savion Glover Finds His Funk

Selene Castrovilla - Holiday House
Format: Hardcover

A bouncing picture book biography of the tap dancer behind the Happy Feet penguin, illustrated by the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Winner of Hidden Figures.. This is a story about tap dancing, a distinctly American art form that blended English-Scottish-Irish clog dancing with African...
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On the Line: My Story of Becoming the First African American Rockette

Jennifer Jones - HarperCollins
Format: Hardcover

"Though this tale explores painful emotions, its focus on Jennifer's personal experience and the pleasure she found in dance make it an absolute delight." - Kirkus ReviewsFrom the first Black Radio City Rockette dancer, Jennifer Jones, comes an inspiring picture book autobiography...
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The 1619 Project: Born on the Water

Nikole Hannah-Jones - Kokila
Format: Book

The 1619 Project’s lyrical picture book in verse chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the United States, thoughtfully rendered by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and Newbery honor-winning author Renée...

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An American Story

Kwame Alexander - Little, Brown Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

New York Times Bestselling author Kwame Alexander pens a powerful picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.From the fireside tales in an African village, through the unspeakable...
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Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends, Legacies

DK

Erased. Ignored. Hidden. Lost. Underappreciated. No longer. Delve into the unique, inspiring, and world-changing history of Black people. From Frederick Douglass to Oprah Winfrey, and the achievements of ancient African kingdoms to those of the US Civil Rights Movement, Timelines From Black...
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Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood

Kwame Mbalia - Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Black boy joy is ... Picking out a fresh first-day-of-school outfit.Saving the universe in an epic intergalactic race.Finding your voice - and your rhymes - during tough times.Flying on your skateboard like nobody's watching. And more! From seventeen acclaimed Black male and non-binary...
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Y O U N G   A D U L T 

Notes from a Young Black Chef

Kwame Onwuachi - Delacorte Press
Format: Hardcover

Food was Kwame Onwuachi's first great love. He connected to cooking via his mother, in the family's modest Bronx apartment. From that spark, he launched his own catering company with twenty thousand dollars he made selling candy on the subway and trained in the kitchens of some...
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Can't Stop Won't Stop

Jeff Chang - Wednesday Books
Format: Hardcover

From award-winning author Jeff Chang, Can't Stop Won't Stop is the story of hip-hop, a generation-defining movement and the music that transformed American politics and culture forever. Hip hop is one of the most dominant and influential cultures in America, giving new voice to the younger...
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Black Internet Effect

SHAVONE CHARLES - ‎Penguin Workshop
Format: Paperback

With witty humor and a strong sense of self, musician, model, and technology executive Shavone Charles recounts her journey through Google, Twitter, and more - and outlines her mission to make space for herself and other young women of color both online and IRL.Pocket Change Collective...
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Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor's Life

Marilyn Nelson - Christy Ottaviano Books
Format: Hardcover


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The Awakening of Malcolm X

Ilyasah Shabazz - Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Hardcover

The Awakening of Malcolm X is a powerful narrative account of the activist's adolescent years in jail, written by his daughter Ilyasah Shabazz along with 2019 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe award-winning author, Tiffany D. Jackson. No one can be at peace until he has his freedom. In...
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You Are More Than Magic: The Black and Brown Girls' Guide to Finding Your Voice

Minda Harts - Dial Books
Format: Book

A guide for girls of color looking to find their voice and claim space as they prepare for high school, college, and their careers, from the bestselling author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table.When you're a girl of color, figuring out how to find...

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So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix

Bethany C. Morrow - Feiwel & Friends
Format: Hardcover

. As the American Civil War rages on, the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island is blossoming, a haven for the recently emancipated. Black people have begun building a community of their own, a refuge from the shadow of the "old life." It is where the March family has finally...
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The Cost of Knowing

Brittney Morris
Format: Hardcover

Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus is trying his best. He tries to be the best employee he can be at the local ice cream shop; the best boyfriend he can be to his amazing girlfriend, Talia; the best protector he can be over his little brother, Isaiah. But as much as Alex tries, he often comes...
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Chlorine Sky

Mahogany L. Browne
Format: Hardcover

She looks me hard in my eyes& my knees lock into tree trunksMy eyes don't dance like my heartbeat racingThey stare straight back hot daggers.I remember things will never be the same.I remember things.With gritty and heartbreaking honesty, Mahogany L. Browne delivers a novel-in-verse...
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Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

Ibi Zoboi - Balzer + Bray
Format: Hardcover

Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today - Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it's like to be young and Black in America.Black is...sisters navigating...
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Muted

Tami Charles - Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover

For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown.So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world,...
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Punching the Air

Ibi Zoboi - Balzer Bray
Format: Hardcover

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo. The story that I thought...
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The Black Kids

Christina Hammonds Reed - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format: Book

 Perfect for fans of The Hate U Give, this unforgettable coming-of-age debut novel explores issues of race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy black teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Rodney King Riots.Los Angeles, 1992 Ashley Bennett and her friends...
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Concrete Rose

Angie Thomas - Balzer Bray
Format: Hardcover

International phenomenon Angie Thomas revisits Garden Heights seventeen years before the events of The Hate U Give in this searing and poignant exploration of Black boyhood and manhood.If there's one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it's that a real man takes care...
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Grown

Tiffany D Jackson - Katherine Tegen Books
Format: Book

New York Times bestselling author of The Belles Award-winning author Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another riveting, ripped-from-the-headlines mystery that exposes horrific secrets hiding behind the limelight and embraces the power of a young woman's voice. When legendary R&B artist...
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Dear Justyce

Nic Stone - Crown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The stunning sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Dear Martin. Incarcerated teen Quan writes letters to Justyce about his experiences in the American juvenile justice system. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Angie Thomas.In the highly anticipated sequel to her New York Times...
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Clap When You Land

Elizabeth Acevedo - HarperTeen
Format: Hardcover

In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.Camino Rios lives for the summers when...
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Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance

Laban Carrick Hill
Format: Paperback

Determined to make a new start for themselves at the dawn of the twentieth century, many African Americans joined the Great Migration and headed North. For those who landed in Harlem, New York, it was a time of intellectual, artistic, literary, and political blossoming. Influential African...
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SLAY

Brittney Morris - Simon Pulse
Format: Book


Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for Black...
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All the Days Past, All the Days to Come

Mildred D. Taylor - Viking Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The saga of the Logan family--made famous in the Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry--concludes in a long-awaited and deeply fulfilling story.In her tenth book, Mildred Taylor completes her sweeping saga about the Logan family of Mississippi, which is also the story...
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Tyler Johnson Was Here

Jay Coles - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The Hate U Give meets All American Boys in this striking and heartbreaking debut novel, commenting on current race relations in America.When Marvin Johnson's twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless...
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On The Come Up

ANGIE THOMAS - Balzer + Bray
Format: Hardcover

This is the highly anticipated second novel by Angie Thomas, the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning The Hate U Give.Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend...
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Swing

Kwame Alexander - Blink
Format: Hardcover

Things usually do not go as planned for seventeen-year-old Noah. He and his best friend Walt (aka Swing) have been cut from the high school baseball team for the third year in a row, and it looks like Noah's love interest since fifth grade, Sam, will never take it past the "best...
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A D U L T    D V D

Creed III

Michael B. Jordan - ‎Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD

After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has been thriving in both his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian (Jonathan Majors) , resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves...
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Equalizer 3, The - DVD Digital

Denzel Washington - SONY
Format: DVD

Denzel Washington is Robert McCall, an ex-assassin with a mysterious past, who returns to action to serve vengeance for the exploited and oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events...
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Poetic Justice

John Singleton - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

Director John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood, Rosewood) made an earnest effort in this, his second, film to say a great deal that is true and relevant about living and loving in a violent, difficult time in American history. Janet Jackson plays a beautician and poet who withdraws into herself...
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Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee - Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

Unanimous critical acclaim embraces this inventive and extraordinary film from Spike Lee. Newsweek calls it "astonishing." The Houston Post describes it as "exhilarating, joyous and screamingly funny." USA Today calls it "1989s best film." This powerful visual...
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Boyz N The Hood

Cuba Gooding Jr. - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

BOYZ N THE HOOD is the critically acclaimed coming-of-age story of growing up in a South Central Los Angeles neighborhood. It is a place where harmony co-exists with adversity, especially for three young men growing up there: Doughboy (Ice Cube) , an unambitious drug dealer; his brother...
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Till

Chukwu, Chinonye - Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD

Till tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) , whose pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett Louis Till (Jalyn Hall) became a galvanizing moment that helped lead to the creation of the civil rights movement.
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Birth Of A Nation

Armie Hammer - 20th Century Fox
Format: DVD

This historical drama recounts a real-life slave revolt that occurred in 1831 Virginia, led by a black preacher named Nat Turner (Nate Parker) . Turner is ordered by his master (Armie Hammer) to tour a number of local plantations, delivering sermons to the other slaves that will urge...
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Judas and the Black Messiah (DVD)

Daniel Kaluuya - Warner Bros.
Format: DVD

FBI informant William ONeal infiltrates the Illinois Black Panther Party and is tasked with keeping tabs on their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton. A career thief, ONeal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell. Hamptons...
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Harlem Nights

Eddie Murphy - Paramount
Format: DVD

Eddie Murphy, in addition to starring as Quick, the son of 1930s Harlem gambling-house proprietor Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) , also wrote and directed the film. The plotline details the combined efforts of Quick and Sugar Ray to prevent white gangster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner) from...
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Summer of Soul

Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson - Searchlight Pictures
Format: DVD

In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary, part music film, part historical record, created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969,...
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CONVERSATIONS ABOUT BLACK EXPERIENCES (Binge Box)

Binge Box
Format: DVD

Titles included: Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland; The Central Park Five; And She Could Be Next; I Am Not Your Negro; The Talk: Race in America; Baltimore Rising.
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BLACK EXPERIENCES: VOLUME 2


Format: DVD

Titles included: Blackkklansman; Dear White People; If Beale Street Could Talk; Fruitvale Station; Do the Right Thing; Get Out.
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Respect [DVD]

Jennifer Hudson - Studio Distribution Services
Format: DVD

Following the rise of Franklins career from a child singing in her fathers churchs choir to her international superstardom, Respect is the remarkable true story of Aretha Franklins journey to find her voice, in the midst of the turbulent social and political landscape of 1960s America.
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One Night in Miami

King, Regina - The Criterion Collection
Format: Book

A fictional account of one amazing night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural turmoil of the '60s. PLUS: An essay by critic Gene Seymour
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The Chi: The Complete Second Season

Jason Mitchell - Twentieth Century Fox Television
Format: DVD

The Chi returns for a second riveting season of stories from Chicago's South Side. As Brandon works to make things right with Jerrika, Emmett tries to get custody of his son, with help from Jada. Meanwhile, Ronnie hopes to come to terms with his actions, and Kevin grapples with past...
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Queen & Slim

Daniel Kaluuya

From Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe and Grammy Award-winning director Melina Matsoukas, comes the unflinching new drama, Queen & Slim. On a first date, a black man and woman are stopped by a policeman over a minor traffic infraction. As the situation spirals, the man kills
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Atlanta:. The Complete Second Season / Robbin' Season

Donald Glover - Twentieth Century Fox Television
Format: DVD

In ATLANTA ROBBIN' SEASON, two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families. Earn Marks (Donald Glover) is a young manager trying to get his cousin's career off the ground. Alfred Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) is a new hot rapper...
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I Am Not Your Negro

Hubert Gendebien, Raoul Peck, Ives Swennen - Magnolia Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

Master documentary filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished. The result is a radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original words and a flood of rich archival material. A journey into black history that connects the past...
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Black History Activators

Kelly Sweet - Dreamscape Media LLC
Format: DVD

Black History is an integral part of American History. This video highlights some of the most notable events and individuals of Black History and provides an in-depth introduction to key activists including W. E. B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, and Maya Angelou while also introducing individuals...
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African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

Henry Louis Gates Jr. - PBS Distribution
Format: DVD video

Explore with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed-forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable...
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J U V E N I L E    D V D 

Little Mermaid, The

Rob Marshall - WALT DISNEY PICTURES
Format: DVD

The Little Mermaid (2023) Remarkable live-action/CGI redo of the '89 Disney musical classic stars Halle Bailey as the mermaid princess Ariel, whose curiosity about the surface world and attraction to the human prince Eric (Jon Hauer-King) leads her to clash with her overprotective...

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Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Digital

Shameik Moore - SONY
Format: DVD

Miles Morales returns for the next chapter of the Oscar®-winning Spider-Verse saga, (2018, Best Animated Feature Film) , Spider-Man™: Across the Spider-Verse. After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn's full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse,...
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Space Jam: A New Legacy (DVD)

Malcolm D. Lee - Warner Bros.
Format: DVD

Welcome to the Jam! When NBA champion and cultural icon LeBron James and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.s digitized...
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Soul

Pete Docter; Dana Murray; Mike Jones; Kemp Powers; Jamie Foxx; All authors - Disney/Pixar
Format: DVD

Joe Gardner is a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. A misstep takes him from New York City to The Great Before, a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities before going to Earth. Determined to return...
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The Princess and the Frog

Bruno Campos - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

Set in the great city of New Orleans, a beautiful girl named Tiana meets a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.
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The Karate Kid

Jaden Smith - Sony Pictures
Format: DVD

Dre Parker finds himself in China after his mother's latest career move. He and classmate Mei Ying immediately fall for each other, but cultural differences make this friendship impossible. Even worse, his feelings make an enemy of class bully Cheng, who is quite adept at kung fu. Dre turns...
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Annie

Quvenzhané Wallis - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Format: DVD

Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard-knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss...
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Online Databases Use your Norfolk Public Library card number for access to these and more resources found on our database page at http://www.norfolkpubliclibrary.org/research/databases
Biography in Context - Outstanding research support with 600,000+ biographical entries. Credo - Educational content for K-12 students and adults, informational videos and tutorials plus interactive homework and tutorial help with online teachers in Math, Science, English & SAT. Norfolk Journal and Guide 1916-2003 - This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with articles from the Norfolk Journal and Guide, 1916-2003.
Websites
African American History Library of Congress: African American History Browse or search primary sources and reference information in categories of African-American history.   African American History Month https://africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/ The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society with a combined website of resources, exhibits, collections, and event information.   African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/aanp/freedom/ The digitized, full text issues of the first African-American owned and operated newspaper, The Freedom Journal.
African American History Library of Congress: African American History Browse or search primary sources and reference information in categories of African-American history.   African American History Month https://africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/ The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society with a combined website of resources, exhibits, collections, and event information.   African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/aanp/freedom/ The digitized, full text issues of the first African-American owned and operated newspaper, The Freedom Journal.
Juvenile and Young Adult Websites
Culture and Change: Black History in America http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/ An interesting website by Scholastic Publishing which allows students to publish their own writings, listen to jazz music and explore history through its interactive timeline.   History Channel: Black History Month www.history.com/topics/black-history-month Contains an interactive timeline, videos, African-American facts, milestones, maps and 65 icons of black history.