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4 books to celebrate MLK week

Get ready for MLK week at the U by checking out these recommended reads.

The theme for this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week at the University of Utah is “Becoming the Beloved Community.” There are several events planned, so be sure to check those out. In the meantime, here are some recommendations to check out.

"Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation"
by Anna Tubbs

A compelling history that brings much-needed attention to not only the role of mothers in society but also the impact of Black women on American life.

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"The Cooking Gene"
by Michael Twitty

I highly recommend this book! It explores food history and the deep, significant and sustaining impact west African foodways have had on American food, but it also brings in family history, personal history and the type of complex reckoning that comes when conducting African American genealogy.

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"Feed My Sheep: The Life of Alberta Henry"
by Colleen Whitley

Alberta Henry was born in a sharecropper's shack in segregated Louisiana before moving with her family to Kansas where she grew up in a climate of hardship and hostile racial bigotry that forced second-class citizenship on African Americans. When she came to Utah in 1949, she thought it would be a brief stay, but she ended up making it her home for more than 50 years.

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"Felon: Poems"
by Reginald Dwayne Betts

Beautiful poetry from a compelling perspective—and I like the use of blackout text.

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