RESOURCES

Take an Africana Studies Course at UAlbany!

5 ways to honor Black History Month

1. Check your local library or bookstore

2. Watch movies and documentaries

3. Participate in a cultural celebration

4. Food is culture. Share a Caribbean, African, or traditional African American recipe

5. Explore the National Museum of African American History and Culture, click here

Support Black Own Businesses

• https://www.albany.org/blog/post/black-ownedrestaurants-bakeries-in-albany/

Participate in the following dates:

• November 7 Black Solidarity Day

• March 21-27 Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination

Authors to know

• Ibram X. Kendi, former Africana Studies and History professor at UAlbany

• Ta-Nehisi Coates

• Yaa Gyasi

• Tayari Jones

TV Shows:

• Pose 2018-present

• Dear White People 2017-2021

• High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America 2021

• Black in Latin America 2011 – Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers Latin America’s African roots in this four-part series.

Leaders to Know:

• Rosalind Brewer, Walgreens next CEO & only Black woman to currently lead a Fortune 500 firm

• Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, lead scientist on the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine team

• Victor J. Glover, 1st Black astronaut to live & work at the International Space Station for an extended stay

• Amanda Gorman, youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history

• Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s 1st Black senator

• Rashida Jones, 1st Black executive to run a major TV news network

Black Films

The Woman King 2022 2h 15m

A historical epic inspired by true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Judas and the Black Messiah 2021 2h 6m

Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O’Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.

Black Documentaries

“Documentaries can open windows to our past. They allow us to re-live iconic moments in history. Below is a list of powerful documentaries exploring Black history and culture in America.” PBS.org

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 2011 1h 40m

Footage shot by a group of Swedish journalists documenting the Black Power Movement in the United States is edited together by a contemporary Swedish filmmaker.

Dark Girls 2011 1h 11m

Documentary exploring the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color particularly dark-skinned women, outside of and within the Black American culture.

Freedom Riders 2010 1h 57m

The story of the Civil Rights Movement interstate busing protest campaign.

Eyes on the Prize 1987-1990 6h

A documentary about the American Civil Rights Movement from 1952 to 1965

Black National Anthem

Often referred to as "The Black National Anthem," Lift Every Voice and Sing was a hymn written as a poem by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900. His brother, John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954), composed the music for the lyrics. A choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregated Stanton School, where James Weldon Johnson was principal, first performed the song in public in Jacksonville, Florida to celebrate President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. To learn more about the NAACP visit their site here.

Lift Every Voice and Sing Lyrics

Lift every voice and sing, 'Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on 'til victory is won. Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat, Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

WHAT IS STEPPING?

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, 'Til now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who has brought us thus far on the way; Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray. Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land

Stepping is a percussive, highly energetic art form first developed through the song and dance rituals performed by African American fraternities and sororities. In stepping, the body becomes an instrument, using footsteps, claps and spoken word to produce complex polyrhythms Stepping has been described as “one of the most exciting dance forms created in the 21st century.”

To learn more about the origins of stepping, click here

WHAT IS AAVE?

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is spoken by many African Americans in the United States. AAVE has a rich history and thanks to social media, it has spread across the globe. In the link below, we’ll answer “what is AAVE?” with a bit of history, linguistics, politics, and a few examples.

Watch the What is AAVE video here.