Every year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) selects a theme for the year’s Black History Month in February. For 2025, the theme is African Americans and Labor. Your library card gets you access to thousands of newspapers. Some databases have curated collections, such as Proquest’s “Black Newspaper Collection.” See if you can find the first Black union to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor using this resource.
Hint: On our website, go to Research, Select a Curated Topic: News & Newspapers, and then Black Newspaper Collection (ProQuest).
Your library card also gets you access to a wide variety of other databases, including dictionaries. Using the Oxford English Dictionary, see if you can find the two years when the word “labor” had the highest usage.
Hint: To use the Oxford English Dictionary with your library card, on the website, go to Research, Select a Curated Topic: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias, and then Oxford English Dictionary. You’re looking for the frequency of word use.
QUESTIONS: info@denverlibrary.org, 720-865-1111 or chat with us at denverlibrary.org/ask-us-chat
