Truxal Library Exhibit: Black History Month 2025, Black Joy: An Agent of Change
Black Joy Manifested
This section of the guide explores the concept of Black Joy as a form of resistance. It delves into how expressions of happiness, celebration, and cultural pride among Black communities serve as powerful acts of defiance against systemic oppression and historical injustice. Black Joy strengthens communal bonds and inspires future generations to continue the work of equality and justice.
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Black Vaudeville
Black Vaudeville refers to the era of African American Entertainers in Vaudeville, spanning from the 1880s to the early 1930s. A variety of performances, including dance, music, and theatrical acts created by and for African Americans. These performances not only showcased unique elements of Black culture but also influenced broader American and European entertainment.
Related books from Truxal Library
African American Dance –by Call Number: GV1624.7 .A34 G53 2007ISBN: 9780786428168Publication Date: 2006-11-27The fascinating elements of African life manifested themselves richly in the New World, and among the most lasting and influential of these was the art of African dance. This generously illustrated exploration of African American dance history follows the dynamics of the dance forms throughout each generation.
Blacks in Blackface –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780810883512Publication Date: 2013-01-01In Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows, Henry T. Sampson recounts the struggles of African American performers and producers to overcome the racial prejudice of white show owners, music publishers, theatre managers, and booking agents to achieve adequate financial compensation for their talents and managerial expertise.
Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga –by Call Number: ML420 .S667 S36 2008ISBN: 9780252033384Publication Date: 2008-08-04Chronicling the growth and development of the African American Chattanooga community, Scott examines the Smith family's migration to Chattanooga and the popular music of black Chattanooga during the first decade of the twentieth century, and culminates by delving into Smith's early years on the vaudeville circuit.
Nickelodeons and Black Vaudeville –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781621908029Publication Date: 2023-05-15In Nickelodeons and Black Vaudeville: The Forgotten Story of Amanda Thorp, Kathi Clark Wong's extensive archival research uncovers Thorp's impressive contributions not only to moviegoing and its growth in America, but also perhaps even more surprisingly, Thorp's support of early Black vaudeville in the Jim Crow South.
T. O. B. A. Time –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780252054037Publication Date: 2023-02-28Black vaudevillians and entertainers joked that T.O.B.A. stood for “tough on black artists.” But the Theater Owner’s Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) played a foundational role in the African American entertainment industry and provided a training ground for icons like Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Sammy Davis Jr., the Nicholas Brothers, Count Basie, and Butterbeans and Susie.
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance, spanning the 1920s to mid1930's, was a movement that fostered a new black cultural identity through literature, art, and intellect. Alain Locke captured its essence in 1926, noting that art allowed African American life to express itself and seek self-determination. However, the movement notably excluded jazz music, despite its simultaneous rise as a significant Black art form. This exclusion was partly due to a desire to distance the movement from stereotypes associated with jazz at the time and to elevate other forms of artistic expression. (Credo Reference).
Related books from Truxal Library
The Harlem Renaissance –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781438114972Publication Date: 2009-01-01Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s was the epicenter of a rebirth in African-American literature with the poetry and prose of writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Gwendolyn Brooks.
Children's Literature of the Harlem Renaissance –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780253110923Publication Date: 2004-07-05Some Harlem Renaissance figures took an impassioned interest in the literary models offered to children. As a result, African American children's literature became a crucial medium through which a disparate community forged bonds of cultural, economic, and aesthetic solidarity.
Women of the Harlem Renaissance –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780253209801Publication Date: 1995-09-22The lives and works of women artists in the Harlem Renaissance?Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Bessie Smith, and others. Their achievements reflect the struggle of a generation of literary women to depict the lives of Black people, especially Black women, honestly and artfully.
The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism –by Call Number: N6538 .B53 H37 2024ISBN: 9781588397737Publication Date: 2024-02-27A celebrated cultural phenomenon shows how the flow of ideas through Black artistic communities on both sides of the Atlantic contributed to international conversations around art, race, and identity while helping to define our notion of modernism.
The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance –by Call Number: PS153 .B53 C345 2007ISBN: 9780521856997Publication Date: 2007-06-14The Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937) was the most influential single movement in African American literary history. The movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature, and had an enormous impact on later black literature world-wide.
Sneaker Culture
Sneaker culture has a deeply intertwined with African American Culture. "It's like art," says Akio Evans, a Baltimore artist known for transforming shoes into wearable masterpieces. "Even when a sneaker is just sitting on a shelf or in a box, the first thing you do is admire its design. You examine every detail and choose the one that speaks to you." Decades after their debut in the fashion world, sneakers are finally being recognized as a significant part of our cultural heritage, especially highlighting the influence of Black culture on this legacy.
Related books from Truxal Library
Sneakers –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781474262927Publication Date: 2016-01-28Based on the author's own ethnographic fieldwork in New York, where sneaker subculture is said to have originated, this unique study traces the transformation of sneakers from sportswear to fashion symbol.
The Sneaker Book –by Call Number: HD9992.A2 V363 1998ISBN: 9781565844063Publication Date: 1998-08-15How (and by whom) are sneakers made? Where does your money go when you buy a pair? Who are the companies behind the logos? Why is Nike heralded by economists and lampooned by Doonesbury?
Black Cultural Traffic –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780472025459Publication Date: 2010-02-11"A shrewdly designed, generously expansive, timely contribution to our understanding of how 'black' expression continues to define and defy the contours of global (post)modernity.
The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century –by ISBN: 9781941366547Publication Date: 2023-06-27This book captures the extraordinary influence of hip hop, which has driven innovations in music, visual and performing arts, fashion, and technology and grown into a global phenomenon since its emergence in the 1970s.
Terpsichore in Sneakers –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780819571809Publication Date: 2011-03-01Sally Banes analyzes the contributions of the Judson Dance Theatre and the Workers' Dance League, the emergence of Latin postmodern dance in New York, and the impact of black jazz in Russia.
Afrofuturism
Ellen Gallagher, Bird in Hand (2006), Tate Museum
According to National Museum of African American History & Culture, "Afrofuturism expresses notions of Black identity, agency, and freedom through art, creative works, and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life."
Afrofuturism is a vibrant cultural and artistic movement that blends elements of science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and Afrocentrism. It reimagines the past, present, and future of Black people, offering a unique lens to explore and celebrate Black identity, agency, and freedom. This movement manifests through various forms of expression, including literature, music, visual arts, and film, creating a rich tapestry that honors and envisions the multifaceted experiences of the African diaspora.
Related books from Truxal Library
Janelle Monáe's Queer Afrofuturism –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781978826694Publication Date: 2022-06-20Janelle Monáe is one of the most fascinating artists to emerge in the twenty-first century. This provocative new study explores how Monáe's work has connected different media platforms to strengthen and enhance new movements in art, theory, and politics.
Afrocentricity in AfroFuturism –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781496847881Publication Date: 2023-10-30In the twenty-first century, AfroFuturism--a historical and philosophical concept of the future imagined through a Black cultural lens--has been interpreted through a myriad of writers, artists, scientists, and other visionary creatives.
A Pure Solar World –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781477311172Publication Date: 2016-10-25Described as the father of Afrofuturism, Sun Ra created “space music” as a means of building a better future for American blacks here on earth. A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism offers a spirited introduction to the life and work of this legendary but underappreciated musician, composer, and poet.
Black Utopia –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780231547253Publication Date: 2019-09-23In Black Utopia, Alex Zamalin offers an examination of African American visions of social transformation and their counterutopian counterparts. Considering figures associated with racial separatism, postracialism, anticolonialism, Pan-Africanism, and Afrofuturism, he argues that the black utopian tradition continues to challenge American political thought and culture.
Science Fiction and the Mass Cultural Genre System –by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780819577177Publication Date: 2017-03-07Rieder starts from the premise that science fiction and the other genres usually associated with so-called genre fiction comprise a system of genres entirely distinct from the pre-existing classical and academic genre system that includes the epic, tragedy, comedy, satire, romance, the lyric, and so on.
Much More...
The following selection of articles is from the library's collection, ProQuest News and Newspapers and Academic Search Premier:
Duncan, K. E., Hall, D., & Dunn, D. C. (2023). Embracing the Fullness of Black Humanity: Centering Black Joy in Social Studies. Social Studies, 114(5), 241–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2023.2174926
Kearl, B., Mayes, R. D., & Drake, R. (2024). Affirming Black Joy & homeplace: A call to action for practitioner preparation programs. Theory Into Practice, 63(1), 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2023.2287676
Tichavakunda, A. A. (2022). Taking Black Joy Seriously in Higher Education. Change, 54(5), 52–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2022.2101868
Prandy, A. (2022). Does Afropolitanism apply to the Americas? Radical History Review, 2022(144), 229–236.
Zheng, J. (2022). Jazz poetry as a message of African American culture: An interview with Lenard D. Moore. Mississippi Quarterly, 75(1), 99–110.
Burke, S. (2022, Feb 23). Celebrating love and joy in black culture: [correction]. New York Times.
Lowery, K., Johnson, K., & Spearman, R. (2024). There’s no place like homeplace: School principals’ roles in developing student belonging as resistance against oppression. Theory Into Practice, 63(1), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2023.2297140
Ismail, M. (2023). Is there a right way to talk about black culture?: Nonfiction. New York: New York Times Company.