Black Studies

Welcome to the...

Albion College Library provides users with access to a wide array of resources, services and spaces. The Library staff is committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, staff, faculty and community members.  We acknowledge that creating a culture of belonging will be an evolving process and we pledge to continually reassess our efforts. Through the creation of this research guide and others, we hope to maintain and further develop the Library as a welcoming and inclusive space that provides resources and services for all. Below are some of the action plans included in our Blueprint for Belonging that we hope this guide will fulfill. 

  • Include materials in the Library collections that reflect a variety of perspectives.
  • Increase publicity and outreach about Library resources and collections that support diversity.
  • Share resources that support diversity and inclusion through the creation of subject and research guides.

Streaming Video Database Collections

Academic Video Online

Black History Channel

Black Studies

Digital Theatre+
Poetry in Action - Black Voices, Culture & Experiences

  • Explore Black poetry from across time periods and cultures in this series.

Course: Race & Performance
  • Courses on race and theatre or performance encompass issues such as cultural representation, visibility and identity (including casting decisions); and postcolonialism.
Films on Demand
African Studies
  • Access relevant, authoritative streaming videos about Africa and the countries within the continent.
African American Studies
  • A list of films relating to African-American history.
Kanopy
African Studies
Black History Month
  • An uplifting, informative and celebratory collection of films and documentaries. 
African American Collection
  • This robust collection provides a wide range of content from historical analysis to contemporary thought and culture.  

The Coretta Scott King Book Award

“The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.  The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood” (http://www.ala.org/emiert/cskbookawards).  

The Albion College Library collects all Corretta Scott King award winning and notable titles. 

Teaching Resources

Underground Railroad
Black History Month Lessons & Resources
  • From the National Education Association, this guide provides lesson plans with objectives, standards and supplementary resources
National Museum of African American History and Culture: Learning Lab

  • Part of the Smithsonian Institutes, Learning Labs provides digitally curated access to the museum's physical collection and supplemental information.

The Beginning of Belonging: Exploring the Black history of Albion College

The themes in this exhibit were chosen purposefully because they were the most common ideas brought up in the oral history interviews. These themes can be best used to describe and represent the experiences that Black students have had on the Albion College campus.

Organizations

Black Lives Matters
  • #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.
Exact Editions Open Access BLM Collection

  • A freely available Black Lives Matter learning resource, featuring a rich collection of handpicked articles from the digital archives of over 50 different publications.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

  • The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

National Police Accountability Project
  • In 1999, NPAP was created as a non-profit to protect the human and civil rights of individuals in their encounters with law enforcement and detention facility personnel. The central mission of NPAP is to promote the accountability of law enforcement officers and their employers for violations of the Constitution and the laws of the United States.
Innocence Project
  • The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Web Resources

The African-American Mosaic
  • A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture
Black History Month
  • 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.
Black Past
  • This 6,000 page reference center is dedicated to providing information to the general public on African American history and the history of more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world.
Born In Slavery
  • A digital collection created by the Library of Congress, Born In Slavery contains over 2,300 typewritten narratives containing first hand accounts from former slaves, and over 500 black and white photographs of former slaves.
Green Book Navigation Map
  • An interactive map which allows you to use the Green Book - a historical travel guide to indicate which hotels and restaurants were friendly to African-American travelers - to navigate travel through America in 1947 or 1956.
Hutchins Center for African and African American Research
  • The nation's oldest research center dedicated to the study of the history, culture, and social institutions of African Americans.
NAACP
  • A grassroots activism group for civil rights and social justice with more than 2,200 units across the nation, powered by well over 2 million activists. 
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change Archive
  • View online materials from the King Library and Archives. The Archives consists of MLK's papers, pictures, speeches, correspondence, and brochures and holds records of 8 major civil rights organizations.
National Archive - African American Heritage
  • The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration holds a wealth of material documenting the Black experience. This page highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.
National Museum of African American History & Culture
  • The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by an Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 40,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become members. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
Slave Voyages