Librarians Celebrate Changemakers for Black History Month

By Assistant Head of School for Academics David Long

In celebration of Black History Month, our librarians have created opportunities for our students to learn about Black changemakers who have fought to create a more equitable and just society. 

UL and ML Librarian and Media Specialist Kathleen McKim focused on enriching Galloway's current collection by adding over 150 books about the Black experience written by Black authors. She also created opportunities for members of our community to take part in activities to celebrate Black History. She created a community Padlet that allows for everyone to acknowledge a Black person who has significantly impacted their worldview. She also is offering trivia questions each week to UL students; whoever answers the question correctly receives a button that has a picture of a black changemaker in our nations’ history. Ms. McKim is also holding a button-making art contest. The student with the winning design will be able to make 100 buttons to sell to the community with all profits going to a non-profit that supports causes tied to Black History Month. 

EL Librarian and Media Specialist Steve Bartl has updated update the non-fiction collection to provide more books on changemakers that are tied to different racial, ethnic, and religious groups. He set up a Black History Month display in the library to highlight biographies of leaders in science and technology like Mae Jemison and civil rights activists like Viola Desmond, as well as fiction books written by a diverse group of authors. In addition, Mr. Bartl is reading the biography of Black leaders during storytime and is helping third and fourth-grade students pick out books of Black leaders that they know little about.

As we celebrate Black History Month, we encourage you to learn more about our librarian's selections and explore our collection by clicking here!