African American History Month

​In honor of African American History Month every February, MS54 celebrates the resilience of Black Americans past, present, and future. Teachers invite all students to reflect on the theme of Black Resilience, which is the focus of the African American History Month Assembly held during the last school day of February.

BOOKS (Adult/8th Grade+) 

• Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
• When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, asha bandele
• Becoming, Michelle Obama
• Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
• How to Be Black, Baratunde Thurston
• The Sellout, Paul Beatty
• The New Jim Crow, Michele Alexander
• The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
• The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

BOOKS (Young Adult)

• On The Come Up and The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
• Flygirl, Sherri L. Smith
• Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson

ARTICLES 

• The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates

TV & FILM

• 13th, Ava DuVernay, Documentary (Netflix)
• When They See Us, Ava DuVernay (Netflix)
• Episode 3: Explained of Racial Disparity in Wealth (Netflix + Vox)
• Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, Documentary (Hulu)
• Loving, Film, based on The Loving Story documentary

NPR 

• A Code Switch Playlist for Black History Month

TED TALKS

• The Danger of a Single Story, Chimamanda Adichie
• Color Blind or Color Brave?, Melody Hobson
• How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time, Baratunde Thurston
• The Urgency of Intersectionality, Kimberle Crenshaw
• What the Gay Rights Movement Learns from the Civil Rights Movement, Yoruba Richen
• Our Failing Schools: Enough Is Enough, Geoffrey Canada

PODCASTS

• 1619, The New York Times
• The Hug Heard Round the World, Malcolm Gladwell