Celebrate Black History Month with books and films by and about Black Canadians

Celebrate Black History Month with books by and about Black Canadians

Black History in the Library's collections

In honour of Black History Month, the SFU Library invites you to explore our books and movies to learn more about the stories, histories, and experiences of Black Canadians.

Visit our in-person displays

Drop by to browse our in-person displays:

  • WAC Bennett Library (Burnaby), curated by SFU Students of Caribbean and African Ancestry (SOCA), on display Feb 1 - 27, 2024.
  • Fraser Library (Surrey), on display Feb 8 - 29, 2024.

 Read online

Non-fiction

Fiction and poetry 

 Watch online

Looking for movies about Black Canadian communities and lives? Canada's National Film Board (NFB) features Black communities in Canada: A rich history, a 29-film playlist intended to "portray the multi-layered lives of Canada's diverse Black communities."

A man and a woman embrace in a kitchen. Text: Black communities in Canada: a rich history.

More films available through the library:

  • Invisible City: "a moving story of two boys from Regent Park crossing into adulthood[...] Hubert Davis sensitively depicts the disconnection of urban poverty and race from the mainstream" (from NFB).
  • John Ware Reclaimed: "Foggo’s research uncovers who this iconic figure might have been, and what his legacy means in terms of anti-Black racism, both past and present" (from NFB).
  • The skin we're in: Watch and listen to journalist and activist Desmond Cole as he unearths Black Canadian stories and offers a look into anti-Black racism in Canada. 
  • Black hands: Trial of the arsonist slave: Documentary about Marie-Josèphe Angélique, slavery, and crime in Montreal in the 1700s. 
  • Race is a four-letter word: "Sobaz Benjamin introduces us to an interesting group of people[...] we also learn that race is a marathon we are all forced to run" (from NFB).

 Explore our collections

SFU researchers can dig into collections of sources at SFU Library, including:

  • Black Thought & Culture Collection: Primary sources, including speeches, essays, and interviews written by leaders within the Black community from earliest times to 1975.
  • Black Drama: Plays from North America, Africa, the Caribbean, and other African Diaspora countries, as well as biographies, playbills, images, production notes, and more. 
  • Black Short Fiction and Folklore: Stories and folk tales from Africa and the African Diaspora, including oral traditions, contemporary tales, and black-owned and edited journals and newspapers. 

 Beyond the Library

Check out the work done by Hogan's Alley Society, a non-profit organization "committed to daylighting the presence of Black history in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia."

Visit the SFU Institute of Diaspora Research & Engagement (IDRE) for news, to learn more about diaspora, and to listen to June Francis speak about Black history and racism in Canada.

Check out the BC Black History Awareness Society (BCBHAS), and the online exhibit on B.C.'s Black pioneers.

Or Ask a Librarian!

Date(s)
Throughout February