Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library

The Obama Years

An Assessment of Race Relations in the United States

Have race relations in America improved or deteriorated since Barack Obama ascended to the White House? The rash of police shooting deaths of unarmed black men has brought attention to the enduring problem of racial violence in the United States.  According to data collected by the Washington Post in 2015, law enforcement officers killed 990 people, of which 258 were black. At present, there have been 703 documented deaths of which 173 were African-Americans. With several months left in the year, the number is expected to rise.

• Adults
• Black History Month

Staff Pick: National Museum of African American Museum & Culture

New in the collection

The Smithsonian's newest museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, is now open to the public!

• Adults
• Arts & Crafts
• D.C. History
• History
• Music
• Nonfiction
• Sports and Recreation
• Staff Picks

From London into the Past

Over the summer, I joined a small group tour of Great Britain that started in London. It was a great two weeks! I enjoyed exploring the cities and towns where we stopped along the way. Below is a selection of books I read before I went on the tour.  Copies are available from the library system.

• Adults
• Elisa B.
• History
• Nonfiction

The Fossil Fuel Age and After

If a future historian were to map out the great expanse of human history over thousands of years, the fossil fuel age will have occupied a relatively small blip of time. During just several hundred years, humans will have squandered much of the fossil fuels formed over half a billion years. Yet, however brief this era we currently live in will be, many of us consider its way of life to be normal.

• Adults
• Book Reviews
• History
• Nonfiction
• Politics
• Rachel W.
• Science Writing
• Staff Picks