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Black Lives Matter
Making sense of Black Lives Matter and the Black Experience in the United States
Starting Your Self-Education
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a civil rights movement and activist network that originated in 2013 as a hashtag campaign started by three Black organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. The #BlackLivesMatter gained momentum on social media in the wake of a jury finding George Zimmerman not guilty of the second-degree murder of an African-American teenager Trayvon Martin.
While BLM has focused much of its attention on police violence and disparities in the criminal justice system, the movement has grown into an activist network connected through social media. The movement is made up of individuals, local and regional groups, and international coalitions like the Black Lives Matter Global Network and the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), which may champion local issues relevant to their members.
Photo credit: Tom Hilton, Black Lives Matter, 2016. Flickr. Some rights reserved.
- National Museum of African American History and 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."
- The Foundations of Black PowerFrom the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
- Black Lives Matter Foundation#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.
- Racial Conflict - CQ ResearcherAuthoritative and balanced discussion over whether U.S. policies are discriminatory. Provides background going back to slavery and Jim Crow. Topics include institutional racism, civil rights, laws, policing, economics, education, and the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement.
- Black Lives Matter - Opposing Viewpoints in ContextAuthoritative and balanced discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement. Briefly describes its origins as well as the opposition and criticism it has received.
Recommendation from Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA)
- Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA)Established in 1970, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), was formed to serve as an advocate for the development, promotion, and improvement of library services and resources to the nation’s African American community; and to provide leadership for the recruitment and professional development of African American librarians.
- Black History Month Programming in Public LibrariesThis project is a critical step in examining that future. We are able to study BHM in public libraries given the groundwork of our ancestors. We honor their vision and commitment to commemorating African American achievements. The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) is dedicated to determining how we can best carry on this great legacy.
- Cite Black WomenIn November 2017 Christen A. Smith created Cite Black Women as a campaign to push people to engage in a radical praxis of citation that acknowledges and honors Black women’s transnational intellectual production
- Afro-ParadiseAfro-Paradise chronicles Black experiences with police terror in Salvador Bahia and Black community responses to it. The focus of this discussion is the work of Reaja ou Sera Mortx! and their sustained work fighting against police killings torture, invasions, death squad murders and the prison system--in short, the landscape of anti-Black genocide in Brazil.
- Little Known Black Librarian FactsLittle Known Black Librarian Facts is a blog devoted to the history of African American librarians and library services to African Americans. It is hoped that through this blog, people will learn about African American pioneers in the library profession, and the triumphs and struggles in making library services available to African Americans
- The Educating of Black Librarians: An Historical PerspectiveDumont, R. R. (1986).
- Race in American Librarianship: Attitudes of the Library ProfessionDu Mont, R. R. (1986).
- DuMont, 35 Years Later: HBCUs, LIS Education, and Institutional DiscriminationAna Ndumu, & Renate Chancellor. (2021)
Spotify playlist
- NCAAL XI PlaylistBy Twanna Hodge, the DEI Librarian at the University of Florida.
BCALA Librarians experience
The Black librarian in America : reflections, resistance, and reawakening by Publication Date: 02/2022The Black Librarian in America: Reflections, Resistance, and Reawakening is not only the first edition to be edited entirely by Black women, but it is officially produced by BCALA members in commemoration of the organization’s 50th anniversary. Dr. Carla Hayden (14th Librarian of Congress) and Julius Jefferson, Jr. (president of the American Library Association for the 2020-2021 term) contribute moving foreword and afterword segments.
This edition is organized in four thematic sections”: A Rich Heritage: Black Librarian History, Celebrating Collective and Individual Identity Black Librarians across Settings, Moving Forward: Activism, Anti-Racism, and Allyship”
Featured Scholarly Resources about Black Lives Matter
Voices at UTSA
- Black Faculty and Staff Association at UTSABFSA's mission is fostering academic and professional development of black faculty, students, and staff at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The organization accomplishes this mission by promoting cultural events, advancing professional development, providing scholarships, serving as an advocate for and developing support groups for the faculty, staff, and students.
- Black Student Organizations at UTSAA directory of Black student organization hosted on RowdyLink.
- #BlackLivesMatter: Critical Perspectives (Documenting a 2016 UTSA seminar)A digital archive of course content by spring 2016 seminar students at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The course was designed to critically examine the sociocultural and historical contexts of the #BlackLivesMatter and #CharlestonSyllabus movements. Includes background information on the movement, the course syllabus, learning modules, student projects, and more.
- Black Lives Matter Course at UTSA Fall 2020“We’re going to talk about black women, the civil rights movement, black villages, queer affirmation and the connection between brown and black communities,” [Karla Broadus, a lecturer in the College of Education and Human Development] said. “It’s very important that we talk about black lives and everything that’s involved because a lot of our students don’t understand the academic, cultural and sexual connections to the topic.”
Guest speakers will include Dr. Jackie Cuevas, Dr. Bekisizwe Ndimande, Dr. Jocelyn Moody, Dr. Kelly Nash, Dr. Marc Perry, Dr. Howard Smith, Dr. Langston Clark, Dr. Charles Gentry, Mario Salas, Dr. Crystal Webster, Dr. LaGuana Gray, along with weekly lectures.