About the Collection
Founded as a division in 1972, the Black Studies Collection promotes the study and interpretation of the history and culture of people of the African Diaspora globally and within the United States. It includes a microfilm collection of historical Black publications, vertical files, vinyl records, videotape and over 20,000 books made available to all who are interested in Black Studies including students, educators, researchers and the general public.
Special Black Studies Collections
In addition to the main Black Studies collection, books from these sub-collections can be requested in our reading room.
The Anne Cook Reid Book Collection
Anne Cook Reid founded the first Black summer theater in the U.S., taught at Howard University, and was a prominent figure in theater education. The Anne Cook Reid Book Collection contains titles from Anne Cook Reid’s personal collection including some first editions works of Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
The Beatrice Murphy Campbell Collection
The Beatrice Murphy Campbell Collection comprises roughly 1700 volumes from Beatrice Murphy’s personal library of books by and about African Americans. Beatrice Murphy Campbell was a bibliographer, poet, and advocate. She helped found The Negro Bibliographic Research Center (later renamed The Minority Research Center) and served as Managing Editor for its publication: Bibliographic Survey: The Negro in Print.
The Julius Hobson Book Collection
The Julius Hobson Book Collection is a related collection which contains fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from civil rights activist Julius Hobson’s personal collection including an autographed copy of Black Pride, which he authored. Recurring topics include Marxist politics, the African Diaspora, race relations, the Civil Rights Movement, and African-American history and literature. A sample of authors include Eldridge Cleaver, W.E.B. DuBois, Alex Haley, Dick Gregory, C. Vann Woodward, Robert Service, Kwame Nkrumah, Charles Osgood, Elijah Muhammed, Langston Hughes, John Hines, and H. Rap Brown.
The Sloan E. Williams Collection
The Sloan E. Williams Collection contains rare titles donated by Sloan Williams, a former DC Public Library Trustee.
The Black Studies Vertical Files
Vertical files are news clippings, brochures, pamphlets and other documents placed in folders based on subject headings. The Black Studies Vertical Files covers social, economic, cultural, recreational, political, and historical topics related to the interdisciplinary field of Black Studies.
New Titles in Black Studies
View more recent titles
Borrowed land, stolen labor, and the Holy Spirit : the struggle for power and equality in Holmes County, Mississippi
Feldman, Diane T
Alice Coltrane, monument eternal
Los Angeles, California : Hammer Museum, University of California ; New York, New York : Delmonico Books
Explore Black Studies Books In Person
You can browse our Black Studies book collection in The People's Archive reading room, located on the 4th floor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. We have more books in our closed stacks that only staff can retrieve. Walk-ins may need to wait while we retrieve books, or you can make an appointment to have books pulled ahead of time. The collection can be browsed during our open hours, which vary from other library hours.
Interested in viewing Washingtoniana's archives on DC Black History and Culture? Explore the archival catalog here.
Explore Black Studies Online
Dig DC is your web portal for selected digitized and born-digital items from The People's Archive at DC Public Library. Here you can find photos, maps, oral histories, local newspapers and more documenting the history of Washington DC. Many of these digital resources reflect stories of Black life in the district.
Digital Black Studies Databases
Historical Black Newspapers
Federal Surveillance of African Americans
African American Music Reference
The Black Studies Book Club
The MLK Black Studies Book Club meets the first Saturday of each month to explore, engage, and discuss books from and relating to the Black radical tradition. Selections include classics from authors such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, James Baldwin, and Audre Lorde, as well as lesser known and contemporary works. The book club's scope encompasses an array of authors from across the African diaspora who challenge existing notions of what Blackness and Black Struggle.