Hutchins Library News Blog

Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. June 19th, 1865 was the day federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce emancipation. Though the federal holiday started in 2021, many communities have been celebrating it and continue to do so. 

Here are a few books from our collections you can read. Title links lead to the catalog record so you can locate the book.  

• Ralph Ellison's novel, Juneteenth, may be of interest. If you've read his Invisible Man, you may want to try this next.

• On Juneteenth by Anette Gordon-Reed. 

• How the word is passed : a reckoning with the history of slavery across America by Clint Smith. 

• Go back and get it : a memoir of race, inheritance, and intergenerational healing by Dionne Ford. 

Want to find some scholarly articles or other periodicals? Try one of our databases which you can access from our website. Please note: if you are off campus, you will need to authenticate access with your Berea College credentials and DUO. If you would like assistance using our databases or any other of our resources, you can visit or contact us at the Reference Desk. Our contact information is on our website where you can also chat virtually with the Reference Desk and set up an appointment with a librarian for in-depth research. 

• Academic Search Complete

• America: History and Life.

• J-Stor. 

• Ethnic Newswatch.

Here are some free online resources that may also be of interest: 

• The Wikipedia entry for Juneteenth. It provides a history overview and list of references. 

• Congressional Fact Sheet for Juneteenth, from the Congressional Research Service. You will find a link to the PDF document at the site. 

• An article from the Library of Congress. 

• A digital toolkit with various resources for Juneteenth from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian. This is where I found the graphic for Juneteenth. 

• Some resources from PBS to learn about Juneteenth.

Finally, from now to the end of the month, we have a small library display of books with a slideshow that you can come view during library regular hours. 

Welcome to another edition of “From Our Shelves” where I read a book from our collections and write a short review. 

This week I read War Made Invisible: how America hides the hidden toll of its military machine (link to library catalog) by Norman Solomon. In this book the author discusses in detail how the United States stays in a continuous state of war, but its citizens have no idea it is happening. The US Government uses all kinds of propaganda and subterfuges to cover up the constant warfare, and the American media is complicit in the process. This is something that both political parties maintain when they are in power. 

The book mainly stays within the late 20th Century and into the 21st Century. The role of 9/11 in ramping up the American war machine is prominent, but the United States was already deep in constant warfare well enough before 9/11.The narrative in the book is not fully linear; the author often jumps back and forth in time. Overall, the military industrial complex is very much alive, well, and wealthy in the United States. The book is not an easy read at times, but it is worth reading. It is well written and accessible. Locally, classes in political science may be interested in adding it to their reading lists.