James Mellone, Author at Queens College Library

Celebrating Diversity: Black History Month Resources!

Resources for Black History Month by James Tasato Mellone, Historical Cultural and Social Sciences Librarian

The QC Library celebrates Black History Month this February 2022 by acknowledging ongoing African-American achievements despite the continuance of racial injustice and racism against the Black American community, both locally and nationally.

Our Black History Month 2022 guide shows several intellectual and artistic creations which, if knowledge is power, may offer some hope for future racial justice. Perhaps such creations can also help us see that the African-American experience is the American experience writ small and large, and that Black Lives Matter.

As part of our Africana Studies research guide, the Black History Month 2022 guide provides a selection of streaming videos, ebooks, as well as streaming music, performances & stories in African American studies. Here are a few highlights from the guide.

The Black Panthers Vanguard of the Revolution film poster

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (PBS, I hr 53 min) “Revisit the turbulent 1960s, when a new revolutionary culture emerged with the Black Panther Party at the vanguard. Stanley Nelson tells the vibrant story of a pivotal movement that feels timely all over again.”

MLK/FBI (2020, 1hr 46min) “In this virtuosic film, award-winning editor, and director Sam Pollard lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged King’s activism throughout the ’50s and ’60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover…”

Half in Shadow The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay book cover

Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay by Shanna Greene Benjamin (Publication Date: 2021) “Nellie Y. McKay (1930-2006) was a pivotal figure in contemporary American letters…best known for co-editing the canon-making Norton Anthology of African American Literature with Henry Louis Gates Jr….After her passing, new details about McKay’s life emerged, surprising everyone who knew her…”

Armstrong Now 2022: Artist-in-Residence Performances (Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens College) “Features world renowned Black artists responding creatively to the newly digitized Armstrong Archives….”

Celebrating Diversity: Native American Heritage Month Resources!

Resources for Native American Studies by James Tasato Mellone, Historical Cultural and Social Sciences Librarian

The QC Library celebrates Native American Heritage Month! It is fitting that this commemoration of Native American heritage occurs during Thanksgiving time. As such, we acknowledge that Native American history, culture, and society are intrinsic components of American life. Our recent climate crises have shown how essential it is for all Americans, indeed all of humanity, to adopt the physical and spiritual connections to the land that Native Americans have long held. Native American reverence for the earth is seen across the continent as first peoples advocate for clean water, land, and air.

As the leading advocacy cooperative for Native Americans, the National Congress of American Indians produces a State of Indian Nations report each year, as well as other publications like Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction, that can provide a window into current Native American life, including their environmental advocacy. For instance, we can learn that the more than 570 tribal nations of the United States inhabit reservations and trust land areas which encompass about 100 million acres, enough to make Native land equivalent to a fourth largest state in the U. S.

As part of our Native American Studies research guide, our Native American Heritage Month 2021: Resources guide provides a selection of QC ebooks, and links to materials in arts & culture, as well as on history, politics & governance. Here are some highlights!

Footprints of Hopi History by Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, T. J. Ferguson, Chip Colwell (Editors)

Theft Is Property! Dispossession and Critical Theory by Robert Nichols

Treaties Still Matter, The Dakota Access Pipeline (Smithsonian)

Sing the Water Song

Celebrating Diversity: Jewish American Heritage Month

To celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month in May 2021, the Library is showcasing a research guide for Jewish American studies, curated by our Jewish Studies librarian Prof. Izabella Taler, which features streaming videos and other e-resources!

Some History & Background

As noted on the Library of Congress’ commemoration site, Jewish American Heritage Month began with President Carter’s proclamation in April 1980 in “which he spoke about the bountiful contributions made by the Jews to the culture and history of the United States.” The month has been honored ever since as the Jewish American community has continued to change and expand.

According to the American Jewish Yearbook, by 2019 the US Jewish population was almost 7 million, with Jews of Color representing at least 6% of American Jews. The states with the largest Jewish population include New York (25%), California (17%), Florida (9%), and New Jersey (8%). More information can be found at this terrific site on Jewish American Heritage Month created by the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and other federal agencies.

Resource Highlights!

Our guide for Jewish American Heritage Month highlights various digital resources on Jewish American studies available for research and entertainment!

Read articles in Jewish American newspapers like the Baltimore Jewish Star and the New York Jewish Week in our Ethnic Newswatch database
Consult our collection of digital books on a variety of topics in Jewish Studies by searching in OneSearch
And finally, watch and enjoy streaming videos, such as:

The Chosen – acclaimed film about two Jewish boys in Brooklyn

The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America– award-winning documentary

RBG – revealing documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Celebrating Diversity: Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

To celebrate Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in May 2021, the Library is showcasing a research guide on Asian/Pacific American studies curated by our Asian Studies librarian Prof. Joan Xu, which features ebooks and other e-resources!

Some History & Background

In 1978, Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month was first declared to commemorate two important milestones in Asian/Pacific American history: the arrival in the United States of the first Japanese immigrants (May 7, 1843) and contributions of Chinese workers to the building of the transcontinental railroad, completed May 10, 1869.

Asian Americans is a term for immigrants who came from the continent of Asia, and for the modern Americans who are descended from them. Asian immigrants are diverse in their ethnicity, religion, and politics, but they share the experience of leaving their homes to come to the U. S. to make a new life, enriching it by bringing their varied cultures with them. Asian alone-or-in-combination residents in the United States are the fastest-growing race group from 2000 to 2019. The estimated number of Asian Americans in 2019 was almost 23 million (US Census Bureau and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month).

Resource Highlights!

Here are some highlights from our research guide for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – digital archives, streaming videos, and ebooks!

Smithsonian Asian American Arts Spotlight – Digital archive about American artists of Asian heritage
How the First Asian American Marine Officer Overcame Racism – Streaming video about Lieutenant Chew-Een Lee

Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience by Angelo N. Ancheta – New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. 2006

Angelo N. Ancheta demonstrates how United States civil rights laws have been framed by a black-white model of race that typically ignores the experiences of other groups, including Asian Americans.

A Thousand Miles of Dreams by Sasha Su-Ling Welland – Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007

A Thousand Miles of Dreams is an evocative and intimate biography of two Chinese sisters who took very different paths in their quest to be independent women.

Waterman by David Davis – Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2015

Waterman is the first comprehensive biography of Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon, waterman. Long before Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their splashes in the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of Waikiki to become America’s first superstar Olympic swimmer.

Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850 by Roger Daniels – Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.

“In this important and masterful synthesis of the Chinese and Japanese experience in America, historian Roger Daniels provides a new perspective on the significance of Asian immigration to the United States.”

Celebrating Diversity: Black History Month Resources!

Resources for African American Studies by James Tasato Mellone, Historical Cultural and Social Sciences Librarian

The QC Library is delighted to celebrate Black History Month (also known as African American History Month)! In this time of continuing struggle for racial justice we acknowledge the contributions to our global society made by African American culture and history!

When discussing diversity, we remember our African American fellow citizens, whether students or colleagues, or family or friends or neighbors, and recognize the centrality of the African American experience to the American experience. We also acknowledge the ongoing American civil rights movement led by African Americans past and present.

We present a new U. S. Civil Rights History research guide, and as part of our Africana Studies research guide we present a guide to celebrate Black History Month that provides a selection of films, books, and music,

Below are a few highlights!

BlacKKKlansman theatrical release poster

BlacKkKlansman (2018, 2h 15min) Directed by Spike Lee. “A black detective sets out to infiltrate the Colorado chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of his Jewish colleague. In the midst of the 1970s civil rights movement, they risk their lives to obtain insider information on the violent organization” – Swank.

I Am Not Your Negro; James Baldwin and Race in America (2013, 1hr 33min) Directed by Raoul Peck. “An Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO explores the continued peril America faces from institutionalized racism. In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and successive assassinations of three of his close friends–Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript.” – Kanopy

Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin
ISBN: 9781492679011
Publication Date: 2019-09-20

“All moms have to deal with choosing baby names, potty training, finding your village, and answering your kid’s tough questions, but if you are raising a Black child, you have to deal with a lot more than that. Especially if you’re a single Black mom… and adopting. Nefertiti Austin shares her story of starting a family through adoption as a single Black woman. In this unflinching account of her parenting journey, Nefertiti examines the history of adoption in the African American community, faces off against stereotypes of single Black moms, and confronts the reality of what it looks like to raise children of color and answer their questions about racism in modern-day America…”

A Past That Won’t Rest by Jim Lucas (Photographer); Jane Hearn (Editor)
ISBN: 149681651X
Publication Date: 2018-03-22

“Collects never-before-published photographs taken by Jim Lucas (1944-1980), an exceptional documentary photographer. His black-and-white images, taken during 1964 through 1968, depict events from the civil rights movement including the search for the missing civil rights workers in Neshoba County, the Meredith March Against Fear, Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s visit to the Mississippi Delta, and more. The photographs exemplify Lucas’s technical skill and reveal the essential truth in his subjects and the circumstances surrounding them…”

Barbara Hendricks: Duke Ellington and Gershwin

Warner Classics, 2007, accessed in Naxos Music Library database

Wynton Marsalis: Jazz 6 1/2 Syncopated Movements and Jump Start

Sony Classical, 1997, accessed in Naxos Music Library database

Celebrating Diversity: Native American Heritage Resources

Resources for Native American Studies by James Tasato Mellone, Historical Cultural and Social Sciences Librarian

The QC Library is glad to celebrate Native American History Month! In this time of Thanksgiving we acknowledge the contributions to our global society made by the many Native American nations and civilizations. When discussing diversity, we remember our Native American fellow citizens, whether students or colleagues, or neighbors or friends, and recognize the continued value of their traditions of friendship and thanksgiving, spirituality and environmental consciousness.

Here are two new guides curated to encourage our learning more about Native American culture and history, inside and outside of the classroom.

The new Native American Studies research guide is a good starting place for student research.

Below are a few highlights from our Native American Heritage Month: Resources guide!

Native America: A History by Michael Leroy Oberg
ISBN: 1118937120
Publication Date: 2017-05-30

“The new edition includes expanded coverage of the period since the Second World War, including an updated discussion of the Red Power Movement, the legal status of native nations in the United States, and important developments that have transformed Indian Country over the past 75 years. Also new to this edition are sections focusing on the Pacific Northwest.”

“The Invention of Thanksgiving” by Paul Chaat Smith, Curator of “Americans”

“Do American Indians Celebrate Thanksgiving?” by Dennis Zotigh, “Smithsonian Voices”

Sihasin: Homegrown Concert, Music performance sponsored by the Library of Congress