4 Lesser-Known Black History Reads This February

Even though we’re getting close to the end of February, it’s not too late to discover some of the cool black folks who made this country great in the first place. As someone who is blackity-black black and a bit of a history nut, I’m always coming across people in our history that I either never knew about or aren’t talked about as much as many we’re already familiar with, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriett Tubman, and Booker T. Washington.

We’ve more recently started talking about areas in the United States like Memphis and Tulsa, known as Black Wall Streets, where black people thrived and made good lives for themselves until the jealous and hateful white people burned the areas to the ground, decimating black communities, leaving nothing but hopelessness and despair. And most recently, Tyler Perry made a movie about the brave women of the Triple Six Eight, the only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to serve in World War II.

But did you know that the first official Coast Guard outfit was a group of black men in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, who saved countless lives off the jagged coast in dangerous waters without losing a man? What about a poor unsuspecting black woman who died from cervical cancer, not knowing her cells would be used to cure hundreds of thousands of others of cancer…without her of her family’s permission? Keep reading for four awesome book recommendations that will make you even more proud to be born in the skin that you’re in.

1.The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Meet Mrs. Henrietta Lacks, born in 1920 in Halifax, Virginia and died tragically at the age of thirty-one from cervical cancer. Mrs. Lacks, a poor married housewife and tobacco farmer, made no notable contributions in her life. But the cells that were harvested from her body for research after her death continue to live on to this day, providing invaluable data responsible for saving countless others from succumbing to cancer. There’s just one thing. Neither she nor her family were ever compensated for the use of her cells. In fact, there weren’t even made aware that they were being used until 1975.

2.Fire on the Beach by David Wright and David Zoby

The Outer Banks in North Carolina is widely renowned for its beautiful beaches, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and the famous first flight of the Wright Brothers. But did you know there were another set of brothers who also made their mark in the sand? Mr. Richard Etheridge and his all-black crew patrolled the treacherous waters from the Pea Island Lifesaving station, saving the lives of seafarers in peril from the “graveyard of the deep.” These brave men are credited for providing the framework for the modern-day US Coast Guard and perfected a lifesaving maneuver that is still used to this day.

3.Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem, A Memoir by Daniel R. Day

Remember back in the 1980’s when all the rappers and dope dealers wore Gucci and MCM suits and we all wanted one? Well, you only had to look no further than the humble storefront of Dapper Dan in Harlem. Now in his seventies and still looking cleaner than the board of health, this street-smart hustler and self-taught tailor weaves a tale that reads like it’s straight out of Donald Goins novel. These days, Dapper Dan is a fashion mogul and icon consulting with the likes of Pharell Williams about the Met Gala and such. But check out his humble beginnings ruffling the feathers of major fashion lines like Gucci and Louis Vuitton by taking the fashion world by storm with his own creative take on their garments.

4. Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

Mental health has thankfully undergone some dramatic changes in the last few decades. But imagine having mental health issues during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Imagine being sent to a mental institution for treatment and then being made to help build the facility to save the government money. Then imagine having to sleep on straw beds on the floor on the building you helped build, fourteen to a room, to include adults and minor children, many who weren’t even really mentally ill. Welcome to Crownsville Hospital Center, aka the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland in Crownsville, Maryland, another black eye in the face of this country that America chooses to cover.

Conclusion

The black culture is woven with as many threads of successes and triumphs as they are of agony and heartbreak. And whether you choose one of my picks or a make a discovery of your own, I believe it’s important to see fresh faces and learn new things in our history that while they are not new, they might be new to you. Let’s keep their stories alive so the generations after us will remember their sacrifices.

What is your Black History reading recommendations for this February?