In celebration of Black History Month, the Lehigh Libraries have added new ebooks and audiobooks to the Stories of Black Excellence and Black Lives Matter Reading List collections on OverDrive.
The Stories of Black Excellence collection includes books that highlight some of the countless accomplishments by Black scientists, political figures, cultural icons, artists and authors. New additions to the collection include The Harlem Shuffle by National Book Award winner Colson Whitehead, Just as I Am a memoir by actress and icon Cicely Tyson, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature by Farah Jasmine Griffin, I’m Telling the Truth But I’m Lying, a memoir in essays by author and spoken word artist Bassey Ikpi, and the magical realism novel Yonder by Jabari Asim.
Another addition, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry, is described as genre-bending in this New York Times article. “Any attempt to classify this ambitious work, which straddles genre, kicks down the fourth wall, dances with poetry, engages with literary criticism and flits from journalism to memoir to academic writing — well, that’s a fool’s errand and only undermines this insightful, ambitious and moving project.” It is available as both an ebook and an audiobook.
The Black Lives Matter Reading List collection contains suggestions for books that reckon with the legacy of white supremacy and anti-Blackness in the United States, and that outline actions necessary for examining and dismantling systemic racism, biases, and privilege. In recognition of the importance of her work and her future visit to Lehigh, the new book version of Nikole Hannah-Jones and others’ work on The 1619 Project is available as an ebook and an audiobook. Other highlighted new titles include America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin, and Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter by Veronica Chambers, a book written for younger readers.
Instructions on how to access and download ebooks and audiobooks are available in this guide. To submit recommendations, please email Phil Hewitt (pjh315@lehigh.edu) or Erin Clavier (elc317@lehigh.edu).
