Beloved Community is a term coined by philosopher Josiah Royce and popularized by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Dr. King imagined Beloved Community as a society based on justice, equity, peace and love of others. He deepened and broadened the meaning of Beloved Community to refer to “a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth” (thekingcenter.org). It is a vision where the inevitability of human conflict is recognized, but a pervasive commitment to and skillfulness with nonviolence means that no conflict would lead to inequality, discrimination, or harm.
This month, we explore four themes within the richness of Beloved Community. These themes demonstrate and encourage ways we can be, live in and work towards creating communities in which all people are honored, loved, healed, celebrated and working towards justice.
Beloved Community is a special kind of community. It is a community where . . . .
. . . black leaders are honored
. . . love grows beyond bounds
. . . wounds are healed
. . . we keep working when things get difficult, uncomfortable or we make mistakes.
The books in the curated list below, all written by or about people, communities and identities under represented in published literature, each draw upon these Beloved Community themes. These books, and hundreds more, are all available for loan to our library patrons as well as TVUUC members and families. Click “Borrow A Book” to learn how to bring these and other books home. If you’re not able to check books out, please refer to these suggestions when looking for books exploring Beloved Community. And if you want to support our efforts, visit https://cdjlibrary.org/support to learn how you can do that.
How are you creating Beloved Community?
*Monthly themes adapted from the work of Soul Matters Sharing Circle https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com
Beloved Community is a community where . . . black leaders are honored.
Board Books
Dream Big, Little One - Vashti Harrison
Picture Books
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Doreen Rappaport, Bryan Collier
Rosa - Nikki Giovanni and Bryan Collier
Preaching to the Chickens: the Story of Young John Lewis - Jabari Asim and E. B. Lewis
The Youngest Marcher: the story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a young civil rights activist - Cynthia Levinson and Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Juvenile
Let it shine: Stories of Black women freedom fighters - Andrea Davis Pinkney and Stephen Alcorn
Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History - Vashti Harrison
She Persisted: Harriet Tubman - Andrea Davis Pinkney, Chelsea Clinton, Alexandra Boiger and Gillian Flint
Middle Grades
Zora Neale Hurston: I Have Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen - Laura Baskes Litwin
Marley Dias Gets It done: And So Can You! - Marley Dias
One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance - Nikki Grimes
The Girl from the Tar Paper School: Barbara Rose Johns and the Advent of the Civil Rights Movement - Teri Kanefield
Teen
X: A Novel - Ilyasah Shabazz
We Shall Not Be Moved - Velma Maia Thomas
When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World - Benee Knauer, asha bandele, Patrisse Khan-Cullors
March: Book One, March: Book Two, and March: Book Three by John Lewis
The Rebellious LIfe of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Young Readers Edition) - Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert
Adult
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir - Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Beloved Community is a community . . . . where love grows beyond bounds
Board Book
Counting on Community - Innosanto Nagara
PIcture Book
When You Look Out the Window: How Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Built a Community - Gayle E. Pitman and Christopher Lyles
A Church for All - Gayle E. Pitman and Laure Fournier
All are Welcome - Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman
Juvenile/Middle Grades
The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Mulsims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust - Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland Desaix
Middle Grades & Teen
Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice - Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, Olivia Gatwood, THeodore Taylor III
Adult
Widening the Circle: The Power of Inclusive Classrooms - Mara Sapon-Shevin
Beloved Community is a community . . . . where wounds are healed
Board Book
An ABC of Equality by Chana Ginelle Ewing and Paulina Morgan
Antiracist Baby - Ibram X. Kendi
Picture Book
The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage - Selina Alko
All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything - Annette Bay Pimental
Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins - Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerome Lagarrigue
Juvenile
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down - Andrea Davis Pinkney
Middle Grades
We are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World - Todd Hasak-Lowy
Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation - Monique Gray Smith
Teen
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and you: A remix of the national book award-winning Stamped from the Beginning - Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People (ReVisioning American History for Young People) - Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Debbie Reese, Jean Mendoza
Beloved Community is a community where . . . . we keep working when things get difficult, uncomfortable or we make mistakes.
Picture Book
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of race, mistakes and friendship - Irene Latham, Charles Waters, Sean Qualls, Selina Alko
Not My Idea: a book about whiteness (ordinary terrible things) - Anastasia Higginbotham
The Water Walker - Joanne Robertson
Juvenile or Middle Grades
A Good Kind of Trouble - Lisa Moore Ramee
Middle Grades
Proud (Young Readers Edition): Living My American Dream - Ibtihaj Muhammad
Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality - Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
Teen
We Shall Not Be Moved - Velma Maia Thomas
Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength and Courage - Edited by In This Together
Adult
Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race - Debby Irving