Black History Month Recorded on the Microphone

This blog was written by Lawrence Turner, adult services librarian at South County Regional Library

The thing about Black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.—Henry Louis Gates, professor and literary critic

Granted, Black History Month is the shortest month of the year but there exists a wealth of information and personal stories that may continue into March and beyond.  A book search in the library catalog for “African Americans” and “interviews” brings up a treasure trove of experiences that reflect and document the country and environment with its warts and shining moments. An interested reader can find an eye-opening collection to explore. 

A detailed look at African American history covers the institute of slavery and the experiences of those enslaved. One compact book is Slavery Time When I was Chillun edited by Belinda Hurmence. It’s library catalog entry describes the book as: Twelve oral histories of former slaves selected from the more than 2000 interviewed as part of the Slave Narratives of the Library of Congress for the Works Progress Administration in 1936. 

Multiple books have been based on those interviews and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has its share with some only available as ebooks and others only available at the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, housing archives and special collections.

The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room is a valuable resource for investigating segmented groups like North Carolina Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in North Carolina From Interviews With Former Slaves along with events years later as Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories by Ellen Levine (interviews from the 1950s and 1960s).  Currently, the location is available for visit by appointment only with email as the preferred contact.  

These books provide a varied history of African Americans would be an appealing read for many concerning life experiences and aspirations.  Look at the life of Clarice Freeman of Houston, Texas, as a case in point. In Lift Every Voice: a Celebration of Black Lives, selected older African Americans are interviewed for their perspective on success and looking to the future. Freeman, 101 years-old, an educator and community leader, shared her fight for racial equality as an economic driven concern. She said: “After college, I joined the Congress of Racial Equality, or CORE. One of my first experiences with the group was shutting down a restaurant. A group of us decided to go have dinner at this place. And, of course, the manager met us at the door and told us, ‘No Blacks.’ We said, “We’re hungry. We’re not going away until you let us in.’ The manager closed manager closed the door and locked it, not allowing any customers in, including white people. Another time, we were fundraising, and I asked a local CEO for a donation. He looked at me and said, ‘When are you people going to stop begging and support yourselves?’ I said, ‘Well, when we become CEOs just like you, when we have jobs that pay us just like you pay your employees, maybe we will have enough money to support ourselves.’”

Look for Lift Every Voice and other related books in this Black history booklist.