Image created by Yoli Bergstrom-Lynch

Join CT State Manchester’s Damato Library in celebrating Black History Month by exploring this mini collection of books, music, art, films, talks, podcasts, and notable websites. Our collection includes books you can borrow from the Damato Library and from the libraries in the CSCU library consortium (i.e., the 12 Community Colleges, 4 Connecticut State Universities, and the CT State Library).

Taking inspiration from Oakland’s Black Joy Parade, the Black Joy Storywindows, Kleaver Cruz's The Black Joy Project, and The Museum of Black Joy, this mini collection features books that center Black joy as an act of resistance. In relating the significance of joy to Black survival, Kleaver Cruz explained, "Black joy is not . . . dismissing or creating an 'alternate' black narrative that ignores the realities of our collective pain; rather it is about holding the pain and injustice . . . in tension with the joy we experience. It's about using that joy as an entry into understanding the oppressive forces we navigate through as a means to imagine and create a world free of them" (see "Black Joy: Resistance, Resilience and Reclamation" by Elaine Nichols). Put differently, in his book Inciting Joy, poet and essayist Ross Gay asks, “What if joy is not only entangled with pain or suffering, or sorrow but is also what emerges from how we care for each other through those things?” (p. 4). For Dr. Yaba Blay, “The idea of Black joy as a liberation strategy is an honor to our ancestors” (see Black Joy).

In addition to exploring our new books on Black joy, we invite you to visit our Black History Month library display which is themed around Black joy as resistance. The display includes books, the Nap Ministry’s rest deck, photographs of murals painted by Black artists in Oakland, California, visual art, and scenes of Black joy. There is also a whiteboard located outside of the library that invites all members of our campus community to share what brings you joy.

Guide Curators:

  Yoli Bergstrom-Lynch -- Research & Instruction Librarian

Black Student Union -- Manchester Campus

 SGA -- Student Government Association - Manchester Campus

  Diversity Committee -- Manchester Campus

  Kristin Lavoie -- Reference/Instruction Librarian

   Christi Geisinger -- Library Associate, Interlibrary Loan (co-creator of Black Joy library display & digital signage)

Manchester Black History Month Mini Collection by Yoli Bergstrom-Lynch, CT State Manchester Black Student Union, CT State Manchester Student Government Association, CT State Manchester Diversity Committee, Kristin Lavoie, and Christi Geisinger is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Grab your headphones and check out our librarian curated Spotify playlists celebrating Black music and be sure to explore Carnegie Hall's Timeline of African American Music.  

Frédéric Bazille - Young Woman with Peonies, 1870 (Public Domain Image)