Black Wordsmiths: Black Musicians & Poets in the Durham Tech Library Collection

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black diamond queens: african american women and rock and roll by Maureen Mahon
shine bright: a very personal history of black women in pop by danyel smith
God Save the Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop by kathy iandoli
Keep on pushing: Black power music from blues to hip-hop by Denise Sullivan
rap capital: an atlanta story by joe coscarelli
Hip Hop Family Tree, Volume 1 by Ed Piskor
music is history by questlove
the high desert: black. punk. nowhere. by james spooner
They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib
Amazing Grace performed by Aretha Franklin, directed by Alan Elliott DVD
beats, rhymes and life: the travels of a tribe called quest DVD
soundtrack for a revolution DVD
call us what we carry: poems by amanda gorman
Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems by Rita Dove
Light for the World to See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope by Kwame Alexander
The Tradition by Jericho Brown
don't call us dead: poems by danez smith
english lit by bernard clay
the breakbeat poets: new american poetry in the age of hip-hop edite by kevin coval, quraysh ali lansana, and nate marshall
African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle and Song edited by Kevin Young
of poetry and protest: from emmett till to trayvon martin edited by Michael Warr and Phil Cushway
"BLK History Month" by Nikki Giovanni. If Black History Month is not viable then wind does not carry the seeds and drop them on fertile ground rain does not dampen the land and encourage the seeds to root sun does not warm the earth and kiss the seedlings and tell them plain: You’re As Good As Anybody Else You’ve Got A Place Here, Too

This week's Black History Month post highlights Black creators in poetry and music, including pop, hip hop, rap, punk, and rock. This is only a small selection of our collection, so stop by and browse our digital collections from your own computer or stop in and browse our shelves.

Updated 2/15/2023: Want some poetry bookmarks? Go to the end of the post!

Interested in learning how to make your own music using only a laptop? Check out this awesome event through the Wake County Public Libraries featuring Durham's Pierce Freelon. Registration is requested and is free.

Hip Hop Beat Making with Pierce Freelon, Saturday, February 25 from 4:00-5:00 PM at the Oberlin Regional Library (1930 Clark Ave, Raleigh, NC 27605). Registration is requested and free.

Explore music production and entrepreneurship by learning how to compose, sample, and write a song using only a laptop with Grammy-nominated musician and co-creator of PBS's Beat Making Lab.

Be sure to check out the other Black History Month events through the Wake County Public Library's "Celebrating Black Brilliance" series.

Histories, essays, graphic nonfiction, and memoirs-- the Durham Tech Library has many exciting books and audiobooks on Black musical history and musicians.

See last week's post for the library hot tip about shelf and catalog browsing-- hint: similar items are grouped together by call number, the link in the caption. (Spoiler: That's the hot tip, but last week's post has a picture.)

We also have awesome music documentaries in the Main Campus DVD collection. Browse it at the bottom of the staircase in the Main Campus Library near the instruction computer lab.

Here are just a few of the many exceptional books of poetry in the Durham Tech Library by contemporary Black poets--

And very small selection of our Black poetry collections--

To see poetry in action, PBS's Poetry in America series highlights and discusses "unforgettable" American poems.

poetry in america black poets: gwendolyn brooks, langston hughes, nas, and evie shockley

Check out the episodes on Gwendolyn Brooks's "To Prisoners," Langston Hughes's "Harlem," Nas's "New York State of Mind," and Evie Shockley’s “you can say that again, billie” streaming through the Films on Demand database (off-campus users log in with your Durham Tech username and password). For additional resources, go to PBS's Poetry in America site.

Print your own set of poetry bookmarks for Black History Month from the Library's annual poetry bookmark collection (for Poetry Month in April). This set features an excerpt from "In This Place (An American Lyric" by Amanda Gorman, "[Seven of the ten things I love in the face of James Baldwin]" by Terrance Hayes, "My Mother Enters the Workforce" by Rita Dove, "little prayer" by Danex Smith, and "for grandma" by NC Poet Laureate Jackie Shelton Green.

coloring bookmarks for Black History Month featuring Amanda Gorman, Terrance Hayes, Rita Dove, Danez Smith, and Jackie Shelton Green
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