February: Focus on Black History Month

Black History Month

Focus on Black History Month

Explore the many groups, events, media, and other opportunities that celebrate our colleagues and classmates and raise awareness around Black history. We thank partners across Yale for contributing to this list.

Have we missed something? Please let us know.

Art Collections

Explore the following collections:

Books

Yale University Press and Yale University Library

Read one of over 100 books on African American Studies available via the Yale University Press and via the Yale University Library. The Library’s collection also includes additional resources on this topic.

Additional Book Recommendations

  • Autobiography of Malcolm X, Alex Haley
  • Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins
  • Black Jacobins, C.R.L. James
  • Black in White Space, Elijah Anderson
  • Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
  • The Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Cherríe Moraga
  • The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  • The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-first Century, Grace Lee Boggs
  • Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde

Resources on Antiracism

Access books and other media curated by the Belonging at Yale team on the subject of antiracism.

Free the New Haven Panthers: The New Haven Nine, Yale, and the May Day 1970 Protests That Brought Them Together

Yale University Library Reading Resilience Project
Learn more about ways to engage with the Library’s Reading Resilience Project. Now in its 8th year, the Yale University Library invites students and members of the Yale community to identify books by and about people of color to add to the Bass Library’s growing collection

Yale Library African American Studies Research Guide
Yale University Librarians have prepared this guide as an overview of library resources and tools for pursuing research in African American Studies.

African American Studies Critical Guide to Oral History American Music Interviews (OHAM)
This research guide highlights the African American artists features in Yale’s Oral History of American Music collection, an ongoing oral history project started in 1969 that is now home to 2800 audio and video interviews.

This online exhibit, sponsored by the Yale University Library, has been curated by Yale College student Kathryn Schmechel ’21 based on her senior essay in history. 

Courses

African American History Open Yale Course

Take this free course to examine the African American experience in the United States from 1863 to the present (2010). Prominent themes include the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction; African Americans’ urbanization experiences; the development of the modern civil rights movement and its aftermath; and the thought and leadership of Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

Department of African American Studies

Learn about the Department of African American Studies at Yale, focusing on numerous disciplinary perspectives, the experiences of people of African descent in Black Atlantic societies, including the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

LinkedIn Learning

Explore free courses on LinkedIn Learning, including courses on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

Events

Black History Month Events compiled by the Afro-American Cultural Center (“The House”)
Explore this compilation of campus/local events that are planned by the Afro-American Cultural Center (“the House”), some of its resident groups, various University offices and student organizations, and community partners of the House. Events that appear on this list were submitted by the event coordinator(s).

Yale African American Affinity Group (YAAA) Events

Discover upcoming events hosted by the African American Affinity Group, including:

  • Wonderful Books and Where to Find Them, February 4, 2023, 11 am - 11:30 am: In partnership with the New Haven Public Library, YAAA hosts a monthly book club for families, with this month’s book being Alma’s Art by Roda Ahmed in celebration of Black History Month.
  • Trailblazers in Yale Athletics, February 15, 2023, 11:45 am to 12:45 pm: YAAA joins Athletics, Asian Network at Yale (ANY), Future Leaders of Yale, and Working Women’s Network (WWN) for a discussion with Vicky Chun, Dalila Eshe, and James Jones. Vicky Chun is the first woman and Asian American to serve as the Director of Athletics at Yale. Dalila Eshe is the first Black female head coach at Yale. James Jones is the longest tenured head coach in the Ivy League.
  • Black At Yale: A Film Diary, February 23, 2023, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm: YAAA and New Haven Club of The National Association of Negro Business & Professional Women’s Club’s Inc. host a viewing of “Black At Yale: A Film Diary.” The film focuses on the experiences of African-American students at Yale in the early 1970s.
  • Journey of Becoming an Author: Knowing Your Story, February 24, 2023, 12 pm - 1pm: YAAA hosts Tangular A. Irby, an author, educator, and quilter, for an interactive discussion to dispel myths about the process of becoming an author.
  • Working Women’s Network (WWN) and YAAA Book Talk - I’m Not Yelling: A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace, February 28, 2023, 12 pm: Join the Working Women’s Network and Yale African American Affinity Group for a conversation with Elizabeth Leiba about her book I’m Not Yelling: A Black Woman’s Guide to Navigating the Workplace. Register by Friday, January 27th for your chance to win a free copy of the book.

Department of African American Studies Seminars:

  • “Black Reconstructions: Archival Assembly and Histories of American Education,” February 9, 2023, 11:15 am to 12:45 pm: The Department of African American Studies brings Jarvis R. Givens, Associate Professor of Education and African & African American Studies at Harvard University, as a part of the Spring 2023 Endeavors Seminar Series to discuss his work on the legacy of Black educators.
  • “Blackness Beyond Repair”, February 14, 2023, 4 pm: The Departments of African American Studies and Anthropology host Jovan Scott Lewis, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley, to discuss his research, generally concerned with questions of racial capitalism, underdevelopment, and radical terms of repair in the Caribbean and US.
  • 2023 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Lecture, February 27, 2023, 4 pm - 5 pm: Dr. Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, delivers a lecture entitled “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What We See, Think, and Do.”
  • “Biased World: Psychological Science in the Service of Justice,” February 27, 2023, 2 pm - 3 pm: Preceding the 2023 Henry Gates Louis Gates, Jr. Lecture, Phillip Atiba Goff, Chair and Carl I. Hovland Professor of African American Studies and Professor of Psychology, joins Jennifer Richeson, Tracey Mears, and Tom Tyler to discuss the ways the psychological science of bias influences our lives, our policy, and the structures of society.

Ruby and Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum Tour with Working Women’s Network (WWN), February 11 and February 25, 2023: Join the WWN for a tour of the Ruby and Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum in Stratford, CT.

Annual Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yale University honors the life and work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with celebrations on campus and in the New Haven community. These commemorative events highlight Yale’s and New Haven’s spirit of service and provide an opportunity for education and unity in these challenging times. While the 2023 event has already passed, please explore this website for information of interest.

19th Annual Yale Bouchet Conference, March 31 - April 1, 2023

The Annual Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education finds its origins in Yale’s treasured collaboration with Howard University. It draws scholars, administrators, and graduate and undergraduate students from across the nation, as well as members of the New Haven community. Featuring two days of discussions, networking, and other sessions, the conference culminates in the induction ceremony for the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. Registration is required and free for Yale Alumni and affiliates.

Visit the Yale Events Calendar for additional DEI and Belonging events, including those focused on Black History Month.

Films and TV Series

  • 13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
  • American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
  • Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 — Available to rent
  • Blindspotting (Carlos López Estrada) — Hulu with Cinemax or available to rent
  • Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) — Available to rent
  • Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
  • Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent
  • I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent or on Kanopy
  • If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
  • Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent for free in June in the U.S.
  • King In The Wilderness — HBO
  • See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
  • Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent for free in June in the U.S.
  • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — Available to rent
  • The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Available to rent for free
  • When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix

Organizations and Centers of Engagement

African American Affinity Group (YAAA)

The Yale African American Affinity Group strives to provide opportunities for staff to engage, build community and make connections at Yale and the broader New Haven community.

Afro-American Cultural Center

The Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale University (affectionately called “the House”) was established in the fall of 1969 after the rise of issues surrounding race and civil unrest at Yale and throughout the New Haven community. Since 1969, it has nurtured and encouraged generations of Black Yalies to become some of the world’s leading scholars, activists, and professionals.

Black Student Organizations

Learn about over 30 House Groups affiliated with the Afro-American Cultural Center.

Yale Black Alumni Association (YBAA)

Founded in 2008, The Yale Black Alumni Association (YBAA) is an official shared interest group of the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA) run by dedicated, volunteer Yale alumni from around the country.

The Program in Race, Ethnicity, and Migration (ER&M)

This program enables students to engage in the interdisciplinary and comparative study of forces that have created a multicultural, multiethnic, and multiracial world.

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition

The Center is part of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. Since its founding in 1998, the Gilder Lehrman Center has been dedicated to the investigation and dissemination of knowledge concerning slavery and its legacies across all borders and all time, from the distant past through the present day.

Greater New Haven Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NNACP)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) ensures the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and aims to eliminate race-based discrimination.

Social Media Channels