News Release | Community
Throughout February, to commemorate Black History Month, the UTRGV University Library on the Brownsville Campus if featuring a special collection of more than 100 books and other media focused on Black History Month. The books showcase prominent figures in black history – including Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Maya Angelou and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Friday, February 9, 2018
Around Campus
By News and Internal Communications
Brownsville, Texas – In honor of Black History Month, more than 100 books showcasing prominent figures in black history – including Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, Maya Angelou and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – will be available for checkout and on display at the University Library on the UTRGV Brownsville Campus.
The books are part of a display, during the month of February, featuring a special collection of books and other media focused on Black History Month.
Created by the Special Collections and Archives department of the library, the showcase will be visible on the third floor until the end of the month. The books are available for checkout by UTRGV students.
Millie Hernandez, University Library special collections manager, said that learning the history of a topic is the first step to becoming enlightened on it.
“It’s important to have a remembrance of things that shaped our history,” she said. “Before we can do that, we have to educate ourselves. We want our students to be aware and inform themselves by reading.”
Special Collections and Archives organizes exhibits throughout the year to promote awareness in a wide range of causes, including Women’s History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and the history of Día de los Muertos.
Liliana Sanchez, access services librarian, said it is gratifying to see students visiting the exhibits.
“At the end of the night, we look at the sign-in sheet and it’s amazing to see how many students are engaged on the topic,” she said. “The whole staff works hard to provide the best resources.”
Also for Black History Month, there will be a showing of “Freedom Riders” and “Slavery by Another Name,” documentaries that delve into the issue of slavery. The screenings will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, in the Brownsville library, Instruction Room 1.118, and at the UTRGV Edinburg Campus library, Schilling Room, on the second floor.
Students unable to attend the event can still view the documentaries on Kanopy, a streaming service with more than 26,000 films accessible to students through the University Library Database.
To learn more, contact the UTRGV Special Collections and Archives at (956) 882-7968 (Brownsville) or (956) 665-2726 (Edinburg).
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.
