Each February we celebrate Black History Month. This week’s Sunday Edition Oberlin College Libraries celebrate the organizational prowess and achievements of Black suffragists. On display in Azariah’s Cafe, we are featuring several books. Mary Church Terrell, 1884 Oberlin College graduate, was an icon in the civil rights movement. In addition to being an educator, feminist, civil rights activist, she was also a founding member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Progress of Colored Women: Three Civil Rights Speeches by the First Black Woman to Receive a College Education in the United States of America Mary Church Terrell features several of her lectures. Also on display is Terrell’s autobiography, A Colored Woman In A White World. In A Singing Something: Womanist Reflections on Anna Julia Cooper, author Karen Baker-Fletcher follows the life and legacy of Cooper (1858-1964), Black Liberation activist and strong supporter of suffrage. In Uplifting the Women and the Race, author Karen Johnson writes of Cooper in addition to Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) who, in her activism, founded the largest black women’s organization in the United States: The National Training School for Women and Girls. Finally, on display is Brian Russell Roberts’ Artistic Ambassadors: Literary and International Representation of the New Negro Era which explores the intersections of 20th century black internationalism and U.S. diplomacy. While not entirely focused on black suffragists, Roberts includes several suffragists’ works as part of the African American literary tradition. Check out these and more at our main library and always remember Black history should be celebrated every month of the year. Happy reading!
