The month of February has been set aside to celebrate the contributions of the country's African Americans. It was in 1926 that  Negro History Week was first organized by historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) and others. During America's Bicentennial celebration in 1976, the one-week span was lengthened to four and February was established as Black History Month.  The Canton Public Library has a vast amount of resources for and about African Americans.

Books: Reference

Today we honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader who would have turned 84 this year. A federal holiday to honor King, who was assassinated in April 1968, was first observed in 1986. Congress also designated it a national day of service in 1994.

Books

April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s death and transformation of America by Michael Eric Dyson

At Canaan's edge: America in the King years 1965-68 by Taylor Branch

To wrap up this year’s Great Michigan Read, the Michigan Humanities Council will host a grand finale event on Monday, June 25 in Traverse City. This finale will be held at the Dennos Museum Center and feature Arc of Justice author Kevin Boyle. This will be an amazing event, providing an opportunity to reflect on the conversations and discussions generated by the Great Michigan Read throughout Michigan.

Tickets are available for $35 and $100. More information is available at the Michigan Humanities Council. For immediate event updates, keep an eye out on the Council's Facebook page.

The Great Michigan Read 2011-2012 is drawing to a close. This year's selection has inspired displays and discussions across the states in public libraries and schools. The author, Kevin Boyle, received his undergraduate degree from University of Detroit-Mercy and his doctorate from University of Michigan. He is presently teaching at Ohio State University. Arc of Justice won the National Book Award in 2004 and was named Michigan Notable Book in 2005.

If you have read Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, the 2011-2012 Great Michigan Read try David Halberstram or Branch Taylor or one of the many documentaries about Civil Rights in America produced over the years.

Faith in the city: preaching radical social change in Detroit by Angela D. Dillard; with a foreword by Charles G. Adams

Race and remembrance: a memoir by Arthur L. Johnson

Has your book group tried our Book Club in a Bag kits? Each kit has 8 books and a resource guide with book discussion questions, author information, and articles relating to the book. To reserve a Book Club in a Bag kit for your group, contact Adult Reference Desk at (734) 397-0999.

Prodigal summer: a novel [kit] by Barbara Kingsolver

The red tent [kit] by Anita Diamant

The Michigan Humanities Council is proud to feature Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age as the 2011-12 Great Michigan Read. Written by Detroit native Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice tells the story of African American Dr. Ossian Sweet and the chain of events that occurred after he purchased a home for his family in an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925.

Saturday, January 15 would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 82nd birthday. We celebrate his life, his message, and the spirit of the Civil Rights movement on the third Monday of every January. For some, this means a day off of work or school; for many others it's a day of community service (Find volunteer opportunities on the All for Good site). Whether you choose to serve, attend special community events, or simply reflect, Canton Public Library has useful resources for you:

Martin Luther King — Books

Behind the dream: the making of the speech that transformed a nation by Clarence B. Jones and Stuart Connelly

The Word of the Lord is upon me: the righteous performance of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Jonathan Rieder

What would Martin say? by Clarence B. Jones and Joel Engel

Howard Zinn (1922 – 2010) an American historian and Professor of Political Science at Boston University from 1964 to 1988, died on Wednesday, January 27, 2010. He was the author of more than 20 books. Zinn was active in and wrote extensively about the African-American Civil Rights Movement 1955-1968, civil rights and civil liberties and peace movements. In his best-selling A People's History of the United States, "he concentrated on what he saw as the genocidal depredations of Christopher Columbus, the blood lust of Theodore Roosevelt and the racial failings of Abraham Lincoln.