The UTA Libraries Display Committee works to curate library materials that highlight/showcase resources that students can check out to learn more about each month’s theme. Check out our display on the 2^nd floor of UTA Central Library! 

This month, UTA Libraries celebrates/honors/recognizes Black History Month. First celebrated as “Negro History Week” in 1926, Black History Month (also known as African-American History Month) began being observed in 1976. Historian Carter G. Woodson chose February to coincide with President Abraham Lincoln’s and abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ birthdays. It is a time celebrate and recognize the achievements and role in U.S. history of African Americans.

University of Texas at Arlington's 1980 Homecoming Queen Wanda Jo Holiday, right, and Homecoming King Rodney Lewis, left, are pictured together. Holiday is holding a bouquet of roses and both are wearing corsage mums pinned to their clothing. They are UTA's first African American Homecoming King and Queen in the school's history.

Digital Resources 

African American Newspapers: A collection of African American newspapers contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day, including the Mexican War, Presidential and Congressional addresses, Congressional abstracts, business and commodity markets, the humanities, world travel and religion.

Mayor Elzie Odom Oral Histories: Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney conducted 2 oral histories with Mayor Elzie Odom on August 23, 2019 and August 27, 2019. Mayor Odom discusses the Odom's background in Shankleville, Texas. He focuses on his enslaved ancestors Winnie and Jim. He also discusses his families move to Orange, Texas in 1949. He discusses education in the Black community in Orange and his election to the Orange School Board in 1965. He was the first African American elected to public office in Orange. In the second interview, Mayor Odom discusses his campaign strategy running for office in Arlington, Texas. He also discusses the difference in running for an election in Orange, Texas versus Arlington, Texas.

Elzie Odom, right, celebrating with wife Ruby Odom, left, after winning a city council election in Arlington, Texas by 16 votes to become the first African American city councilman in Arlington.

Black Drama: Black Drama contains approximately 1200 plays from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Some 440 of the plays are published here for the first time, including a number by major authors.

The Black Campus Movement: A History of Student Activism by Ibram X. Kendi

Acting Up and Getting Down: Plays by African American Texans by Sandra Mayo

The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin

Dissenting Forces: A History of Abolition and Black Thought in Higher Learning by Michael E. Jirik

Sinners

Fences

Do the Right Thing