The BCALA Public Libraries Committee has released The Black Consciousness Principles Reading Guide. Dr. LaGarrett King’s article, “Black History is Not American History: Toward a Framework of Black Historical Consciousness” serves as the guide’s foundation. The Black Consciousness Principles Reading Guide serves as a resource to connect Black children and Black teens with books that affirm their identities, and educates and enlightens them on Black history, Black culture, Black life, and the Black experience.

Organized by grade level, The Black Consciousness Principles Reading Guide contains a plethora of books on Black joy, Africa and the diaspora, power and oppression, and Black agency and perseverance. Some of the books listed in the guide are Eric Kimmel’s Anansi and the Magic Stick, Traci Baptiste’s African Icons: Ten People Who Built a Continent, Derrick Barnes’ I Am Every Good Thing, Angie Thomas’ The Hate You Give, and Jerry Craft’s New Kid.

The Black Consciousness Principles Reading Guide is accessible via the BCALA website at: https://www.bcala.org/wp-content/themes/blackc/pdf/Black-Consciousness-Principles.pdf

Members of the BCALA Public Libraries Committee: Opetoritse Adefolalu, Tamela Chambers, Tiffeni Fontno, Taryn Fouche, Tiffany James, Mariel Matthews, Jordan McKenna, Annelisa Purdie, Wayne Anthony Walters, and Fallon White.

About the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA)

BCALA serves as an advocate for the development, promotion, and improvement of library
services and resources to the nation’s African American community; and provides leadership for
the recruitment and professional development of African American librarians.