Book and Media Club (BAM!)

We often explore historic and current realities and impacts of systemic and personal racism at our BAM meetings. To celebrate Black History Month this year, we are going to explore and celebrate the Beauty in Blackness. We encourage you to find books, movies, music, and art that celebrate the intelligence, resilience, skill, tenacity, irony or spiritual health (list by Toni Morrison paraphrased from the Kwame Brathwaite article below) of black individuals, cultures, and communities.

Here are a few resources to help you get started. Please share additional ideas you have with the group. Children's books (short, sweet, and powerful! Many available through the library. Another option would be to buy a copy and leave it in a Little Free Library in your neighborhood when you're done. Finally, Rebecca has offered to lend her copies out, so I can help you get in touch with her if you're interested in that option.)

• Celebrating the beauty of black and brown skin
• Skin Like Mine by Latashia M. Perry
• Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o
• Celebrating black culture around hair
• Crown, an ode to the fresh cut by Derrick Barnes
• Hair Love by Matthew Cherry (animated short that's fun to watch)
• Mixed Me by Taye Diggs

Art, Poetry, and Articles

• ART: Empowering Illustrations Celebrate the Beauty of Blackness in Full Bloom by Arnesia Young
• POEM: The Beauty of Black by Margaret Burroughs
• The Photographer Who Captured the Beauty in Blackness by Adam Bradley
• Capturing the Beauty of Blackness by Courtland Milloy
• Black Women From Around the World Share What Beauty Means to Them by Michella Oré
• The We Love You Project by Google Art and Culture
• Meet Black Creators by Google Art and Culture

Activities

• Celebrating Black History Month by the National Museum of African American History and Culture