Three Books for Black History Month

They made February a day longer for a reason this year: so you have one more day to hunt down these three fine books that can offer a unique perspective on black history! And if you're not a speed-reader, don't worry. There's no rule saying you have to read them all before tomorrow at midnight. Just put them in your stack and get to them when you can.

Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes

This book is about a lot more than hockey. It tells the story about how the Maroons were uprooted from their homes in the Caribbean to find themselves living in Nova Scotia, where they took the hard labor jobs, struggled for acceptance and identity, and made a hardscrabble living. And they played hockey, sometimes even against white teams, earning respect as they went.

Before I read this, I had never heard of the Halifax Explosion. I warn you, it's absolutely harrowing. It's still hard for me to read about that today.

Gang Leader For A Day

A really unique perspective of life in a gang in Chicago's south side. The author is absolutely fearless. I can just picture him going door to door in an impoverished neighborhood, asking people survey questions such as "what is it like to be black and poor?" More of a sociological account than a historic one, this book really illustrates a life that few of us know, without the glamor and hype that is so often attributed to it.

The Republic of Pirates

What does the Golden Age of Piracy have to do with black history? Everything. Slavery was common and accepted; trading slaves was just another way to pay the bills. Pirates would capture slave vessels and either offer them chance to join with the pirates, or simply set them free. A slave bound for a short life working sugar fields in Jamaica would gladly join pirate ranks to seek their freedom, even if it meant a life just as short and twice as violent.

This is really a book about a number of men fed up by the harsh and oppressive life of a sailor, who took to privateering and eventually piracy so they could stick it to the man. I was expecting to find some similarities with modern day Somali pirates, and I did, but also they had a hint of the American Revolution in them. Just the idea that there was something finer in the world than being ruled by a tyrant. I think that's something anyone can relate to.