Sharing Stories
Reading List
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By Imani Perry
Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as “Blue Black.” The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon.
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By Victoria Christopher Murray
The extraordinary story of Jessie Redmon Fauset whose exhilarating world of friends, rivals, and passions all combined to create the magic that was the Harlem Renaissance. W.E.B. Du Bois, the founder and editor of The Crisis, charged Fauset with discovering young writers whose words will change the world, which included sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen.
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Howard University’s vision behind Bouctou is to create an accessible and appealing online resource for the K-12 classroom by providing informative articles, scholarly research and engaging commentary, and to support the curriculum by contributing quality Africa-focused resources and material.
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By Carole Boston Weatherford, Speaker at last year's SOE Conference
One of Michigan Department of Education’s selected books for Black History Month. The story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots trained by the U.S. military, is told through finely crafted poems by Weatherford and illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford.
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By Nelda LaTeef
For Howard University’s new project, Read Africa Aloud, LaTeef, reads aloud her CABA winner, The Talking Baobab Tree, a tale she heard while visiting a Wolof village in Senegal close to the Sahel.
Watch List
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This 2024 movie explores the life of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, trailblazing women's rights activist in Nigeria and mother of Fela Kuti. The film traces her journey from being the first girl to attend Abeokuta Grammar School to studying in London and returning to Nigeria as an educator and organizer. The film highlights her activism and her role as a wife and mother, showcasing her profound impact on history.
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Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay, ORIGIN chronicles the tragedy and triumph of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson as she investigates a global phenomenon of epic proportions. Inspired by the New York Times best-seller “Caste,” ORIGIN explores the mystery of history, the wonders of romance and a fight for the future of us all.
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Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlinale, Mati Diop’s dynamic film brings a dazzling sense of imagination to vital issues of self-determination and restitution. Amplifying voices from beyond the walls of international museums, this spellbinding work redefines the spaces of culture and art.
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This month we lost Souleymane Cisse, father of African cinema. In 1987, Cisse won the Cannes Film Festival’s jury’s prize for “Yeelen,” an adaptation of an ancient oral legend from Mali.
In 2023, Cannes honored Cisse with the Carrosse d’Or, an award given to filmmakers who have have made a significant impact on cinema.
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The Africa Center, in partnership with the African Film Festival, Film showcases a selection of films by emerging African filmmakers. This month they screened Babatunde Apalowo’s romantic drama of an understated but heart-wrenching look at the love between two men in modern-day Nigeria.