Black History Month (BHM) has been honored each February since 1976. As a community-owned and community-serving cooperative, we want to share ways to learn about and celebrate the rich history and phenomenal achievements of Black Americans.
As we live through the aftermath of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and the continued fight for the Black Lives Matter movement, this is also a time to reflect and commit to continued growth, respect, understanding and social justice.
We hope you find the resources below useful, and we encourage you to share them among and beyond our co-op community.
The History of BHM
- Origins of Black History Month and Black History Themes from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History
- Black History Month overviews from History.com and USA Today
Community Celebrations
- NPR Black History Month programming
- Saint Paul Public Library Black Minnesotan history collection
- “Jim Crow of the North” panel discussion presented by Twin Cities food co-ops, East Side Freedom Library and TPT-2
- Walker|West Black History Music Series
- YWCA St. Paul Equity & Justice Conversation Series
Education: Anti-racism Book Recommendations
This list is based on the anti-racism collection in our staff library. We encourage you to support local by buying from one of the small, independently owned bookshops in the Twin Cities, and look for these and other books by Black and racially diverse authors at Black Garnet Books, a Black woman-owned bookstore in Minneapolis.
- The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois⠀
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi⠀
- The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter⠀
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander⠀
- Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad⠀
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates⠀
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo⠀
- My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
