Posted 1:25 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, 2025
Honoring African Americans' Contributions to Libraries, Labor, and Community Building
Black History Month allows us to dedicate a specific time to celebrating, researching, promoting, and reflecting on African American life, history, and culture – activities that can and should be observed year-long, too. The 2025 annual Black History Theme is “African Americans and Labor,” as established by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). The ASALH are the founders of Black History Month.
At Murphy Library, we celebrate Black History Month by connecting our library users to information and resources on the Black History Month library guide and encouraging students and other members of our community to attend UWL events like the upcoming Couch Conversation with Dr. Nevin J Heard.
In 2025, we are also exploring the history of how Black people’s labor has transformed the library as an institution as well as library work as a profession.
The annual themes the ASALH announces are meant to guide our attention to key moments in Black history and culture but are not meant to limit the focus of what we explore; the concept of labor itself encompasses a wide range. The ASALH Executive Summary details:
“In this instance, the notion of work constitutes compensated labor in factories, the military, government agencies, office buildings, public service, and private homes. But it also includes the community building of social justice activists, voluntary workers serving others, and institution building in churches, community groups, and social clubs and organizations.”
Libraries are places at the intersection of education, public service, and community building. Theoretically for all, but a brief look at librarianship gives immediate insight to the exclusionary history of these places. In 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported only 6.7% of librarians identify as Black or African American. Compared to 11.1% in education professions overall, libraries have work yet to do in becoming more welcoming places. Organizations like the Black Caucus of the American Library Association aim to support Black librarians and lead advocacy work.
Black librarians, writers, and readers have done tremendous work throughout history and continue today to transform the library world, teaching and bringing these institutions closer to their own principles.
To learn more about the extraordinary influence Black individuals and their labor have had in shaping libraries, we encourage you to explore information from our library and beyond:
BookMarks : reading in black and white : a memoir / by Karla F. C. Holloway.
