Celebrate Black History Month with Your Library

Join your Library to celebrate Black History Month in February. 

 
Special Programs

 

Illinois Libraries Present: An Evening with James McBride
Tuesday, 2/4, 7-8 PM 

Registration required (virtual)

Illinois Libraries Present James McBride, an award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water, was published in 1996 and is considered an American classic, read in schools and universities across the United States. His 2013 novel, The Good Lord Bird, won the National Book Award for Fiction and was adapted by Ethan Hawke and Jason Blum into a Showtime series bearing the same name. His latest, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, was named one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2023. 

Black actor with hands extended
1619: The Journey of a People
Sunday, 2/16, 1:30-2:30 PM 

Celebrate Black History Month with this dynamic theatrical experience featuring playwright, professor, and performer Ted Williams III. On August 20, 1619, twenty enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. The 400-year journey that followed would change a nation and the world. This one-man show packs generations of history into an hourlong performance that commemorates the struggles, recognizes the heroes, and critically analyzes the American journey towards freedom and equality.

Library Resources

Recommended by our Librarians

Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Titles

Middle School and Teen Titles

Picture Books, Chapter Books, and Nonfiction for Children

Explore our Digital Collections

Celebrating Black History Month - hoopla

Black History Month for Kids - hoopla 

Films Celebrating Black History Month - kanopy

Celebrating Black History Month - Libby