LibGuides: Black History Month 2023: Taneshia Drake

Taneshia Drake

Taneshia Drake
Senior Academic Advisor and Freshmen Success Instructor
Center for Student Excellence

Video: I am not your negro / written by James Baldwin
The lived experiences of Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Malcolm X have always ignited curiosity within me. Curiosities regarding their individual perspectives of racial injustices within the United States as well their pursuit of freedom and equality for the Black community. Although I have read several works of literature composed by James Baldwin, watching this documentary provided a new perspective of the author as I was able to see visual representation of the events that led to this dynamic analysis of the three civil rights advocates. In his attempt to highlight their lives, James Baldwin not only provides a visual analysis of the previous strife for change but also the impact it has led on the pursuit of racial equality in today’s society.

African American Authors: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
I was first introduced to Jesmyn Ward during her virtual reading of “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. After delving deeper into her works and immersing myself in “The Salvage of the Bones,” I discovered the subliminal merge of the author’s personal experiences with those of the fictional characters she created. Considering her personal challenges during Hurricane Katrina and noting the challenges many Black families in Louisiana and Mississippi encountered, this particular read helped me to understand the Black family dynamic in rural neighborhoods during that particular time. Common situations such as alcoholism, teen pregnancies, and financial burdens are used as centralized themes by many authors. Jesmyn Ward, however, takes those themes and provides a great fictional depiction that provided me with context to connect to the Black experiences of many individuals within our community.

Check out this book and video from the Black History Month display (tall shelf in Library's 1st floor lobby) during the month of February 2023. After February 2023, locate them by the call number in the link.

I Am Not Your Begro by James Baldwin

I am not your negro / written by James Baldwin ; directed by Raoul Peck.
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 of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter.

Salvage the Bones

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
ISBN: 9781608195220
Publication Date: 2011-10-03
Hurricane Katrina is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups.