Black History Month 2020

October is Black History Month, an awareness month and a nationwide celebration of black history, arts and culture throughout Britain. As well as applauding achievements and success over the decades, the month also provides a vital reflection on the challenges that remain. In this way the month plays a vital role in raising awareness of British social history and the continued importance of identity, social equality and integration

Black History Month is essential in promoting learning, providing information and contributing to community cohesion. For over 30 years it has shone, and continues to shine, a beacon of light on the facts about Black history, heritage, legacy and the on-going struggles for equality and justice.  More than that, it educates, informs and inspires many to be proud of who they are and to understand history, origins and the right to exist as equals.

This year we started the celebration early, with our ‘Among the Shelves’ blogs, in which we looked at Contemporary Fiction, Children’s books, Adult non-fiction and Poetry. If you haven’t already checked them out, we can highly recommend it for some powerful, inspirational reads.
For this October, and Black History Month, we have put together a collection of awe-inspiring biographies and autobiographies, remarkable classics and eye-opening history books. All of which have been carefully selected by our staff, and can be found as eBooks or eAudiobooks through the BorrowBox app – or as physical books on our shelves.

Inspiration is the strangest thing, How it travels one spirit to another, transforms how we think

Akala

Biographies/Autobiographies

What is the difference of a biography and an autobiography? They both tell the life story of a person, the difference lays with who tells it. A autobiography is a life story written by that person, if it’s written by someone else, it’s a biography.

These 12 autobiographies and 2 biographies tell the life stories of 14 incredible people, their lives, struggles and achievements. They will give you a glimpse behind the curtain of some historical important persons, famous individuals and, most important, 14 unique, incredible human beings.

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Classic Fiction

A classic is a book that’s exemplary or noteworthy, a book that will still be read and enjoyed 10, 20 even 100 years from when it’s published.
These 12 classic works of fiction range in publication from 1912 all the way to 1998, and whilst some critique the society at the time, others show us how life once was and why this month is so important.

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Historic Non-Fiction

While biographies, autobiographies, poetry and fiction can give us a chance to walk in someone else’s shoes; an opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Sometimes, what we want, what we need, is the facts. A retelling of events, a look at a time period or just cold, hard facts on what life once was. That is why we thought it was important to include books that shows a range of time periods, from the 15th century all the way to the 21st.

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Most of these books are available through the BorrowBox app, have a look for our special Black History Month feature for all the books. If you prefer physical books, almost all of these titles can also be found as physical books that you can reserve for a small charge.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King Jr.

If you liked this blog, don’t forget to check out our ‘Among the Shelves’ blogs and follow us to get notified when we publish a new blog!