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by Roland Barksdale-Hall (Author), Max Macias (Editor)
A soul-deep offering from a veteran librarian, griot, and cultural worker who has spent over thirty years in the trenches of community-based librarianship. What started as creative reflection evolved into a powerful book centered around his original poem "Black Sugar"-a piece rooted in both pain and power.
Roland brings a rare perspective-as an elder, as the first African American director of the Farrell Public Library, and as someone who has consistently shown up for our people. This book reflects his journey through decades of presentations, organizing, and speaking truth in spaces like the National Conference of African American Librarians (NCAAL) and public libraries across the country.
At its core, Black Sugar is a meditation on Kujichagulia-self-determination. Through five Sankofa Black Sugar leadership lessons, Roland invites us to lean into our cultural knowledge and collective strength:
- Reclaim Struggle Narratives. Share them.
- Live and Practice Black Excellence.
- Build in Unity for the Common Good.
- Guard Freedom-for yourself and your community.
- Return to Tradition as a Source of Empowerment.
But this is more than a leadership framework-it's a healing project. Black Sugar reflects on personal battles too: facing microaggressions, surviving an attack on his home, and navigating the deep tensions of racialized spaces in and out of librarianship. Even his local high school football team played a role in inspiring this work-because this book is grounded in real places, real people, and real struggle.
This book isn't just for Black librarians. It speaks to all of us in the profession-those in BCALA, REFORMA, AILA, APALA, and beyond-who believe in the power of libraries to transform communities. Black Sugar is an urgent reminder of why we do this work: for justice, for liberation, and for future generations.
