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Black History Month


The PCC Library continuously selects materials related to African American history as well as contemporary Black American culture. Explore our collection, and suggested materials from the web, to learn more about the contributions and achievements of Black Americans as we celebrate Black History Month.

About Black History Month

Established in 1926 by noted African American historian Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month evolved to become a month-long event in 1976. February was selected because Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln have birthdays during the month. The annual event provides an opportunity to learn about the history, traditions, and contributions of Black Americans. The theme for 2025 is African Americans and Labor.

Cascade Festival of African Films

In celebration of Black History Month, PCC Cascade is hosting the 35th Annual Cascade Festival of African Films from January 31- March 1, 2025. These films celebrate Africa’s achievements, expose its failures, and reveal possibilities for a hopeful future. Visit the festival website for additional information.

PCC Multicultural and Veterans Centers

Black History 101 Mobile Museum
Rock Creek Campus, Building 5, Room 122
Thursday, January 23, 2025
10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Love Your Hair – Cultural Workshop #2
Black hairstyles with Paris Dennis
Student Union 204
Thursday, February 13, 2025
2:00 – 5:00 pm

How Well Do You Know Your Black History Trivia Gameshow
PCC Cascade MAHB Auditorium
Tuesday, February 15, 2025
3:00 – 7:00 pm

Library of Congress Veterans History Project: The Honorable Ancer L. Haggerty
Cascade Campus Moriarty Arts and Humanities Auditorium
Thursday, February 27, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 pm

Recommended books

An African American and Latinx History of the United States
Spanning more than two hundred years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history, arguing that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of America as we know it.

Belabored Professions : Narratives of African American Working Womanhood (ebook)
According to nineteenth-century racial uplift ideology, African American women served their race best as reformers and activists, or as “doers of the word.” This book examines the autobiographies of four women who diverged from that ideal and defended the legitimacy of their self-supporting wage labor.

Black Workers Remember : An Oral History of Segregation, Unionism, and the Freedom Struggle
The labor of black workers has been crucial to economic development in the United States. Yet because of racism and segregation, their contribution remains largely unknown. This work tells the hidden history of African American workers in their own words from the 1930s to the present.

Four Hundred Souls : A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
A chorus of extraordinary voices tells one of history’s great epics: The four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619– a year before the Mayflower dropped anchor off Cape Cod, when the White Lion disgorged “some 20 and odd Negroes” onto the shores of Virginia– to the present, when African Americans, descendants of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this country, continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary struggles, stunning achievements, and millions of ordinary lives passing through extraordinary history.

From Civil Rights to Human Rights : Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice
Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely celebrated as an American civil rights hero. Yet King’s nonviolent opposition to racism, militarism, and economic injustice had deeper roots and more radical implications than is commonly appreciated, Thomas F. Jackson argues in this searching reinterpretation of King’s public ministry.

The Economic Civil Rights Movement : African Americans and the Struggle for Economic Power (ebook)
Economic inequalities have been perhaps the most enduring problem facing African Americans since the civil rights movement, despite the attention they have received from activists. The Economic Civil Rights Movement is a collection of thirteen original essays that analyze the significance of economic power.

For Jobs and Freedom : Selected Speeches and Writings of A. Philip Randolph (ebook)
As the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a tireless advocate for civil rights, A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) served as a bridge between African Americans and the labor movement.

Let Nobody Turn Us Around : Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal ; An African American Anthology
This anthology of black writers traces the evolution of African-American perspectives throughout American history, from the early years of slavery to the end of the 20th century.

A. Philip Randolph and the Struggle for Civil Rights (ebook)
A. Philip Randolph’s career as a trade unionist and civil rights activist fundamentally shaped the course of black protest in the mid-twentieth century.

A Renegade Union: Interracial Organizing and Labor Radicalism (ebook)
Lisa Phillips presents a distinctive study of District 65 and its efforts to secure economic equality for minority workers in sales and processing jobs in small, low-end shops and warehouses throughout the city.

Sister Circle : Black Women and Work 
“Sister Circle: Black Women and Work” is the end product of almost a decade’s commitment made to each other by a small group of interdisciplinary Black and (one) white “Sister Scholars” at the University of Maryland in 1993.

Recommended websites about African American Resistance

Black History and the American Labor Movement, a Story

Invisible Changemakers of Industry
National Museum of African American History and Culture

A Short History of Black Labor Movements in America
Born out of necessity, America’s Black labor movements have left an indelible mark upon the social fabric of our country

The Significance of Four Centuries of Black Labor
An excerpt from Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America reflects on the meaning of centuries of black labor for the future of America’s economy and democracy.

The Three Labor Market Struggles Facing Black America
Black America faces problems relating to (1) the number of jobs, (2) the quality of jobs, and (3) the types of jobs available to Black people. A report from The Center for Economic and Policy Research.

We Built This: A Brief History of Black Laborers’ Deep Connection to America’s Economy

Recommended videos

The Black American Experience. Segregation in America
Segregation in the United States is the racial segregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines.

How Black Workers Fought for Economic Justice Against All Odds
Discover the complex and often heartbreaking history of African American labor in the United States, from slavery to the present day

From The Library of Black History : The Longest Struggle
This film was released in 1984 on the 75th anniversary of the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. This historic saga chronicles the oppressive and violent era following Reconstruction, the birth of the NAACP, and its accomplishments in providing equal opportunity in housing, employment, education, and voter participation

Men at Work : Voices from Detroit’s Underground Economy
In Detroit, the most segregated American city, vast stretches of boarded-up storefronts and weed-choked lots evidence decades of white and middle-class flight from the black central city. This is the story of how, in an economic climate apparently designed to ensure their failure, some resilient men find work on their own terms, get food and shelter, and raise their children — often making up the means to do so as they go along

Sista in the Brotherhood
Sista in the Brotherhood is a 20-minute, narrative, short film about a black tradeswoman who faces discrimination on a new job site and who must choose between making a stand or keeping her job.

Recommended general websites

Black Past
An online reference center with a wealth of materials on African American history. Maintained by the University of Washington. Includes a section on African American History in the West.

A Hidden History: Oregon Black History Timeline
Reveals the stories and struggles of Oregon’s African-American communities.

History.com – Black History
Includes this day in history, TV shows, video clips, interactive timeline, important speeches and more.

Library of Congress: African-American History Month
Includes speeches, images, collections, and audio/video of outstanding African-Americans who have helped pave the way for ethnic multiculturalism.

New York Public Library Digital Schomburg Collection
Includes exhibitions, books, articles, photographs, prints, audio and video streams and selected external links for research on the global black experience.

Not Even Past: Resources for Teaching Black History
Not Even Past is a digital magazine that serves as a robust platform for public history with a global reach.