Celebrate Black History Month on IDEA

February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada, so what better time to explore the nearly 100 IDEA subjects from the U.S. and Canada who identify as Black and/or African American? Taken together, they represent a fascinating cultural and linguistic tapestry.

To find all the subjects, you might want to search the archive (using the search function located in the widget area of the site) for the terms “African-American” and “African American.” You can also search for “Black,” keeping in mind you might turn up some false positives. To make it easier, we have highlighted five recent additions to the archive below. We hope you find them as illuminating as we do.

Arkansas 42: a 55-year-old man from Brinkley, Arkansas
South Carolina 12: a 38-year-old woman from Huger, South Carolina, who speaks Gullah
Georgia 7 and Georgia 8: an 80-year-old mother and 59-year-old daughter from Columbus, Georgia
Tennessee 17: a 66-year-old man from Jackson, Tennessee

Of course, the archive contains hundreds of subjects from outside the United States who identify as Black or a similar race/ethnicity, with most of those being from Africa and the Caribbean. Particularly interesting is our South African collection, which is quite ethnically complex. The 53 subjects identify in a variety of ways, including Black, White, Zulu, Coloured, Cape Coloured, Malay, Indian, Tsonga, and Xhosa.

We also suggest listening to episode 81 and episode 43 of the In a Manner of Speaking podcast, in which IDEA Founder and Director Paul Meier interviews IDEA Associate Editor Jacqueline Springfield about the voices of the Civil Rights movement and heightened language and Black playwrights.

And please keep in mind February is also “Love IDEA Month.” So if you love the archive, or just have a small crush, please share an IDEA page or post on your own social media. Thank you!

Image is courtesy of iStockPhoto (#2255079232) and md ashek miah.