Beyond Black History Month: Black-Led Nonprofits to Support, History and Poets to Read

As we approach the midway point of Black History Month we want to again share a list of community groups, nonprofits, history books, and artists.

The list of black-led nonprofits contains links to websites and/or donation information.

If you want to expand your poetry reading list, we’ve again included an extensive (and growing) list of recommendations. 

Where possible a poet’s name links to available bios.

Websites and/or purchase information for books are linked (if available).

 

Care in Community 

 Black Women Speak  Centers black women’s lives by cultivating a community with black women, giving voice to their experiences as a way to heal, find joy, and move towards liberation on their own terms. To Donate

 Minnesota Healing Justice Network  Provides a supportive professional community and mutual aid network for wellness and healing justice practitioners who also identify as IBPOC (indigenous, black, or people of color). To Donate

Black Health Alliance Canada Community-led registered charity working to improve the health and well-being of Black communities in Canada. To Donate

 Justice Work

 Black Visions Collective  “We aim to center our work in healing and transformative justice principles, intentionally develop our organizations’ core ‘DNA’ to ensure sustainability, and develop Minnesota’s emerging Black leadership to lead powerful campaigns.”

 Campaign Zero Work entails “the analysis of policing practices across the America, research to identify effective solutions to end police violence, technical assistance to organizers leading police accountability campaigns and the development of model legislation and advocacy to end police violence nationwide.”

 The People’s Paper Co-op A social justice and entrepreneurial project that brings individuals with criminal records together to run a craft-based business. All of our products were designed and handmade by our co-op members. All profits go directly into the co-op to expand our co-op membership and help our members be the amazing artists, activists, educators, and neighbors they want to be. Participant of the yearly Mama’s Day Bail Out campaign the goal of which is to free black mothers and caregivers for Mother’s Day

 Local Nonprofits, Consulting, and Community Groups

 Black Women Connect  A collective of women who come together to inspire, empower, leverage strengths, and embrace diverse experiences.

 Black Lives Matter Vancouver Working against police brutality and anti-blackness and uplifting black voices. 

 Bakau Consulting Diversity and inclusion consulting firm.

 The Hogan’s Alley Society Advocates for Black Vancouverites who have endured the legacies of urban renewal and their erasure from the official historical narrative.

  Euphony Equity & Inclusion Works empowers compassionate and progressive leaders with tools to create and nurture equitable and inclusive cultures.

History to Learn

The Haitians A Decolonial History, By Jean Casimir

On the Life and Legacy of Black Journalist Louise Lomax, By Joshua Clark Davis

Reimagining Liberation: How Black Women Transformed Citizenship in the French Empire, By Annette K. Joseph-Gabriel

Chronicling Stankonia, The Rise of the Hip-Hop South, By Regina Bradley

We Are Not Slaves, State Violence, Coerced Labor, And Prisoners’ Rights in Post war America, By Robert T Chase

Magema Fuze: The Making of a Kholwa Intellectual, by Hlonipha Mokoena

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership, By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

An Architecture of Education: African American Women Design the New South (Gender and Race in American History),  By Angel David Nieves

Poets to Add to Your Reading List

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Phillis Wheatley 

Langston Hughes 

Arna Bontemps 

Gwendolyn Brooks 

Maya Angelou 

Audre Lorde 

Frank X Walker 

Dana De Samedi

Jillian Christmas

Morgan Parker

Rabbit Richards

Yolanda Wisher 

princess mcdowell 

Olive Senior 

Yrsa Daley-Ward 

Tracy K Smith

Chelene Knight 

Saeed Jones 

Brandon Wint 

Titilope Sonuga 

Ian Keteku 

Sonya Littlejohn

Lillian Allen 

Rita Dove 

Ian Williams

Kevin Young 

Nikki Giovanni 

Warsan Shire

Ariana Brown

Henry Dumas

Tawhida Tanya Evanson

Amanda Gorman

Scott Woods

Tolu Oloruntoba

Khodi Dill

 

 *If there is a poet you want on this list please feel free to share