Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

  This month we discussed  Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Most of our discussion group enjoyed this book. They loved how the story started with two sisters and how the lineage grew with each of them but at the end, those who were once separated have found their way back to each other. Also, seeing the impact and development of history throughout the generations in this story. While the book only touched the beginnings of the history of Ghana, we discussed how through this book we learned more about slave history that what we knew before. It was eye opening and though provoking. The element of trauma that can cause a generational fear in the family was interesting to see unfold through the story. How the fear of water was caused by a drowning from the past and the fear of fire was caused from a massive fire from another past trauma through in the family. It may seem insignificant but it led to the discussion of how we reflect on our own fears and the fears off our parents or famil...

" I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap"  Ida B. Wells       In honor of it being February, and therefore Black History Month, I wanted to do a special entry highlighting a major historical figure of note, both in the struggle for civil rights and the struggle for women's rights: Ida B. Wells.       Ida B. Wells was born in July of 1862, in Holly Springs, MO to James and Lizzie Wells. Ida and her parents, as well as the rest of the people still held as slaves in the Confederate states, were declared free by the Union six months after Ida's birth with the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation. Ida's parents were active in the Republican party during the Reconstruction, and her father helped to found  Shaw University (now Rust College) and served on the first board of trustees for this school dedicated to educating the newly freed former slaves. Ida recieved her early school...