1619 - 2019: Commemorating 400 Years of African American History
Walk a Mile in My Shoes: Immersive Experiences in African American History
Throughout the year, the SJR State library will offer virtual reality experiences that transport you to an event, era, or place of significance in African American history.
The People's House
The People's House: Inside the White House with Barack and Michelle Obama
"Narrated by the President, “the People’s House” offers an intimate, 360-degree exploration of rooms in the White House residence and the West Wing, as well as a look back at some of the most significant moments that took place there over the past eight years. ...The tour takes viewers through rooms in the White House like the Old Family Dining Room, as well as places that many Americans have never seen before: the Oval Office, the Situation Room, the Rose Garden, and the Treaty Room (the President’s private office). Through it all, you’ll hear the President and First Lady’s personal reflections on historic moments that occurred in each place, whether that’s the response to the economic crisis, the raid on Osama bin Laden, or his statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to make marriage equality the law of the land." from President Obama Narrates "The People’s House," a Virtual Reality Tour of the White House
Event Dates and Locations
Resources for Further Exploration
Books at the SJR State Library
Books may be checked out by community patrons as well as SJR State students faculty and staff. If a title is located at another campus, the book may be sent to another campus upon request.
Becoming by Call Number: All Campus Libraries - E909.O24 A3 2018ISBN: 9781524763152Publication Date: 2018-11-13" "An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States. When she was a little girl, Michelle Robinson's world was the South Side of Chicago, where she and her brother, Craig, shared a bedroom in their family's upstairs apartment and played catch in the park, and where her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, raised her to be outspoken and unafraid. But life soon took her much further afield, from the halls of Princeton, where she learned for the first time what if felt like to be the only black woman in a room, to the glassy office tower where she worked as a high-powered corporate lawyer--and where, one summer morning, a law student named Barack Obama appeared in her office and upended all her carefully made plans. Here, for the first time, Michelle Obama describes the early years of her marriage as she struggles to balance her work and family with her husband's fast-moving political career. She takes us inside their private debate over whether he should make a run for the presidency and her subsequent role as a popular but oft-criticized figure during his campaign. Narrating with grace, good humor, and uncommon candor, she provides a vivid, behind-the-scenes account of her family's history-making launch into the global limelight as well as their life inside the White House over eight momentous years--as she comes to know her country and her country comes to know her. [This book] takes us through modest Iowa kitchens and ballrooms at Buckingham Palace, through moments of heart-stopping grief and profound resilience, bringing us deep into the soul of a singular, groundbreaking figure in history as she strives to live authentically, marshaling her personal strength and voice in service of a set of higher ideals. In telling her story with honesty and boldness, she issues a challenge to the rest of us: Who are we and who do we want to become?" - Jacket
The Audacity of Hope by Call Number: St. Johns River/Orange Park and St. Augustine -- E901.1.O23 A3 2006ISBN: 9780307237699Publication Date: 2006-10-17"Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics--a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the "endless clash of armies" we see in Congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of our democracy. He explores those forces--from the fear of losing, to the perpetual need to raise money, to the power of the media--that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats--from terrorism to pandemic--that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a broken political process, and restore to working order a government dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans." --From publisher's description.
Change We Can Believe In by Call Number: St. Johns River/Palatka and St. Augustine -- E901.1.O23 A3 2008ISBN: 9780307460455Publication Date: 2008-09-09"In these pages you find specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world."--BOOK JACKET.
Dreams from My Father by Call Number: St. Johns River/St. Augustine and Palatka E185.97 .O23 A3 2004ISBN: 9781400082773Publication Date: 2004-08-10" In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father, a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey, first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother's family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father's life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance." - summary
Of Thee I Sing by Call Number: St. Johns River/St. Augustine Children's Books -- PZ7 .O23 Ha 2010ISBN: 037583527XPublication Date: 2010-11-16"In this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, President Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children, and within all of America's children"--Book jacket.
Barack Obama in His Own Words by Call Number: St. Johns River/St. Augustine Circulation -- E901.1 .O23 A25 2008ISBN: 9781586487591Publication Date: 2008-12-16
Michelle Obama by Call Number: St. Johns River/St. Augustine Circulation -- E909 .O24 A25 2009ISBN: 9781586487621Publication Date: 2009-04-14
American Grown by Call Number: St. Johns River/St. Augustine Circulation -- SB466.U7 W4835 2012ISBN: 9780307956026Publication Date: 2012-05-29"This book is a pictorial guide by Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, that describes how she and her daughters planted a vegetable garden on the White House's South Lawn as part of an initiative to raise awareness about childhood obesity. In February 2010, she launched Let's Move!, a nationwide initiative to address the epidemic of childhood obesity by bringing healthier food into schools and communities, and encouraging kids to be more active. Her book speaks to these issues and also includes practical ideas, recipes, and resources as well as tips on how to begin a garden of any size, anywhere, how to support local farmers' markets, and advice for making healthier food choices." - summary
Walk a Mile in My Shoes: Immersive Experiences in African American History
I Am A Man
Experience I Am A Man, the award winning virtual reality experience that places you in Memphis in 1968 as a witness to the Sanitation Worker’s Strike and the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, at the SJR State Library. The full experience lasts 15 minutes.
In a discussion of the power and potential of using virtual reality (VR) as a teaching tool, the creator of this VR experience, Dr. Derek Ham, said, "One of the things that I love that I was able to do with this project is to give yourself the hands of a black man. Talking with people who are who are non-black, that’s the first time they were ever able to look down and see black hands, in a way that’s respectful. We don't want people painting themselves in blackface and going out in the streets and saying I want to think about what it was like in the Civil Rights [Era]. It’s disrespectful. But VR is able to bring you in that space.
If you cannot attend an event listed below, please contact a librarian at your campus library to schedule a session.
Palatka: Joyce Smith or Brittnee Fisher
Orange Park: Andrew Macfarlane
St. Augustine: Beryl White-Bing
Event Dates and Locations
January 22, 2019: I Am A Man
Location: Palatka Campus Library
Time: Drop in anytime from 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
January 23, 2019: I Am A Man
Location: Orange Park Campus Library
Time: Drop in anytime from 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m..
January 24, 2019: I Am A Man
Location: St. Augustine Campus Library, room L-112
Time: Drop in anytime from 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Resources for Further Exploration - I AM A MAN and Martin Luther King in the years leading to Memphis
Online Resources
National Civil Rights Museum to Install "I Am A Man" VR Experience - an article from the Memphis Daily News about the VR experience we are also showing.
A conversation with Derek Ham, creator of the I Am A Man virtual reality experience - from The Outline.
‘I Am a Man’: The ugly Memphis sanitation workers’ strike that led to MLK’s assassination - article from the Washington Post.
Books and eBooks at the SJR State Library
Locations:
PAC = Palatka Campus Library
OPC = Orange Park Campus Library
SAC = St. Augustine Campus Library
Please note: eBooks are only accessible to currently registered SJR State students, faculty, and staff via MySJRstate.
Redemption by Call Number: OPC; E185.97.K5R598 2018ISBN: 9780807083383Publication Date: 2018-03-27"Chronicles the last 31 hours of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life as he seeks to revive the non-violent civil rights movement and push to end poverty in America. On April 3, 1968, arriving in Memphis, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was being denounced as an agent of violence. He was facing dissent within the civil rights movement, among his own staff. A federal court injunction barred him from marching. Threats mounted; he feared an imminent, violent death. That night, King gathered the strength to speak at a rally on behalf of sanitation workers. Rosenbloom recounts the pressures that were bedeviling King, and shows how a series of extraordinary breaks enabled James Earl Ray to construct a sniper's nest and shoot King." - publisher's marketing
At Canaan's Edge by Call Number: PAC: E185.615.B67 2007ISBN: 9780684857138Publication Date: 2007-01-09"At Canaan's Edge concludes America in the King Years, a three-volume history that will endure as a masterpiece of storytelling on American race, violence, and democracy. Pulitzer Prize-winner and bestselling author Taylor Branch makes clear in this magisterial account of the civil rights movement that Martin Luther King, Jr., earned a place next to James Madison and Abraham Lincoln in the pantheon of American history." - publisher's marketing
Bearing the Cross by Call Number: PAC and SAC: E185.97 .K5G36 2004ISBN: 9780060566920Publication Date: 2004-01-06"Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, this is the most comprehensive book ever written about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on more than seven hundred interviews with all of King's surviving associates, as well as with those who opposed him, and enhanced by the author's access to King's personal papers and tens of thousands of pages of FBI documents, this is a towering portrait of a man's metamorphosis into a legend." - publisher's marketing
To the Promised Land by Call Number: PAC and SAC: E185.97.K5H59 2018ISBN: 9780393651263Publication Date: 2018-04-03"Fifty years ago, a single bullet robbed us of one of the world's most eloquent voices for human rights and justice. [This book] goes beyond the iconic view of Martin Luther King Jr. as an advocate of racial harmony, to explore his profound commitment to the poor and working class and his call for 'nonviolent resistance' to all forms of oppression--including the economic injustice that 'takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes.' Phase one of King's agenda led to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. But King also questioned what good it does a man to 'eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?' In phase two of his activism, King organized poor people and demonstrated for union rights, while also seeking a 'moral revolution' to replace the self-seeking individualism of the rich along with an overriding concern for the common good. 'Either we go up together or we go down together,' King cautioned, a message just as urgent in America today as then. To the Promised Land challenges us to think about what it would mean to truly fulfill King's legacy and move toward his vision of 'the Promised Land' in our own time." - publisher's marketing
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr by Call Number: OPC: E185.97.K5A52 1998ISBN: 0446524123Publication Date: 1998-11-01"He was a husband, a father, a preacher - and the preeminent leader of a movement that continues to transform America and the world. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the twentieth century's most influential men and lived one of its most extraordinary lives. Now, in a special volume commissioned and authorized by his family, here is the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr., drawn from a comprehensive collection of writings, recordings, and documentary materials, many of which have never before been made public." - publisher's marketing
Celebration • Education • Reflection
H.R.1242/Public Law 115-102, the 400 Years of African American History Commission Act, establishes 2019 as a year of "commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in the English colonies, at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619." The commemoration is intended “to recognize and highlight the resilience and contributions of African-Americans since 1619; to acknowledge the impact that slavery and laws that enforced racial discrimination had on the United States; and to educate the public about the arrival of Africans in the United States; and the contributions of African-Americans to the United States.” In recognition of this commemoration and with the Act serving as a guide, the SJR State Library has organized a year-long series of events that will provide educational experiences and resources to students and the community that celebrate the history and culture of African Americans.
Site created and maintained by Dr. Christina Will. Pages will be added and maintained throughout 2019.
Maintenance will cease at the end of 2019 but this site will remain accessible.