The Best Black History Books of All-Time
We consulted 29 “Best Black History” book lists and came away with 547 different books, 89 of which appeared multiple times. February is Black History Month, but with this list you can read and learn year-round. There is fiction and non-fiction, with titles for all ages.
The Top 27 Best Black History Books of All-Time
Editors Pick 1: Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King
Editors Pick 2: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
1) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Appears On: 6 Lists
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2) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Appears On: 5 Lists
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3) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Appears On: 5 Lists
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4) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Appears On: 5 Lists
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5) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Appears On: 5 Lists
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6) Black Boy by Richard Wright
Appears On: 4 Lists
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7) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Appears On: 4 Lists
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8) Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Bryan Collier
Appears On: 4 Lists
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9) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Appears On: 4 Lists
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10) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Appears On: 4 Lists
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11) Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Appears On: 4 Lists
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12) Through My Eyes by Bridges, Ruby
Appears On: 4 Lists
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13) A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Appears On: 3 Lists
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14) A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Appears On: 3 Lists
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15) Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Appears On: 3 Lists
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16) Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks
Appears On: 3 Lists
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17) Chains by Anderson, Laurie Halse
Appears On: 3 Lists
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18) Drylongso by Hamilton, Virginia
Appears On: 3 Lists
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19) Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Appears On: 3 Lists
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20) If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringgold
Appears On: 3 Lists
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21) Native Son by Richard Wright
Appears On: 3 Lists
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22) Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Hopkinson, Deborah
Appears On: 3 Lists
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23) The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing – Traitor to the Nation by Anderson, M. T.
Appears On: 3 Lists
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24) The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
Appears On: 3 Lists
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25) The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. DuBois
Appears On: 3 Lists
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26) The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Appears On: 3 Lists
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27) What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem, Obstfeld, Raymond, and Boos, Ben
Appears On: 3 Lists
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Books 28 – 89
All appear on 2 lists each
- 28. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
- 29. Amazing Grace Mary Hoffman
- 30. An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
- 31. Bad News for Outlaws by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
- 32. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Danielle Evans
- 33. Bill Pickett: Rodeo-Ridin Cowboy, by Pinkney, Andrea & Pinkney, Brian
- 34. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
- 35. Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, by Hudson, Cheryl & Ford, Bernette
- 36. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- 37. Copper Sun, by Draper, Sharon
- 38. Disgruntled by Asali Solomon
- 39. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
- 40. Elijah of Buxton, by Curtis, Christopher Paul
- 41. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision, Barbara Ransby
- 42. Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger, illustrated by Teresa Flavin
- 43. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” by Ntozake Shange
- 44. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, John Hope Franklin
- 45. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
- 46. Go Tell It On The Mountain” by James Baldwin
- 47. God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
- 48. Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jamey Christoph
- 49. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, by Nelson, Kadir
- 50. How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon
- 51. I Am Rosa Parks, by Parks, Rosa Parks & Haskins, James
- 52. Jam on the Vine by LaShonda Katrice Barnett
- 53. Kindred by Octavia Butler
- 54. Let It Shine! Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters, by Francie, Andrea Davis Pinkney, English, Karen
- 55. Let the Circle Be Unbroken, by Taylor, Mildred D.
- 56. Malcolm X: A Life in Reinvention
- 57. Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl, by Bolden, Tonya
- 58. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Man of Peace, by Patterson, Lillie
- 59. Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks
- 60. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
- 61. My People, by Hughes, Langston, illustrated by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
- 62. Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, by van Wyk, Chris and Bouma, Paddy
- 63. Nightjohn, by Paulsen, Gary
- 64. One Crazy Summer
- 65. Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile
- 66. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, and So Much More by Janet Mock
- 67. Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South by William H. Chafe and Raymond Gavins
- 68. Rosa, by Giovanni, Nickki
- 69. Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward
- 70. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
- 71. Something Beautiful, by Wyeth, Sharon
- 72. Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market by Walter Johnson
- 73. The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- 74. The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, by C.L.R. James
- 75. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
- 76. The Dream Keeper and Other Poems, by Hughes, Langston & Pinkney, Brian
- 77. The Gold Cadillac
- 78. The Legend of Buddy Bush, by Moses, Sheila P.
- 79. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
- 80. The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson
- 81. The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and Rise and Decline of Black Politics
- 82. The Quilt, by Jonas, Ann
- 83. The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, illustrated by George Ford
- 84. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
- 85. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March
- 86. What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage
- 87. White Girls
- 88. White Teeth” by Zadie Smith
- 89. Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz
The Remaining 458 books appearing on a single list each
- 100 African-Americans Who Shaped American History
- 1001 Things People Should Know about African American History, by
Steward, Jeffrey C. - 28 Days: Moments in Black History that Changed the World
- A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina’s Dream by Kristy Dempsey and
Floyd Cooper - A Date with a Dish: Classic African-American Recipes
- A Friendship for Today, by McKissack, Patricia C.
- A Kid’s Guide to African American History: More than 70 Activities
(A Kid’s Guide series) - A Little Love, by Hamilton, Virginia
- A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippinby Jen Bryant,
illustrated by Melissa Sweet - A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin
Luther King, Jr. edited by James M. Washington - A Wanted Woman
- A Weed is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver by Aliki
- A Wreath For Emmett Till, by Nelson, Marilyn
- Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History by Trevor R. Getz &
Liz Clarke - Africa Dream, by Greenfield, Eloise
- Africa Is Not a Country by Margy Burns Knight and Jim Knight and
illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien - African American Children and Families in Child Welfare: Cultural
Adaptation of Services - Africana
- After Civil Rights: Racial Realism in the New American Workplace
- Against All Odds: Artist Dean Mitchell’s Story, by James, Betty R.
- Aida, by Price, Leontyne
- Ain’t Got No Home: America’s Great Migrations and the Making of an
Interracial Left, by Erin Royston Battat - Ake: The Years of Childhood
- All Night, all Day: A Child’s First Book of African American
Spirituals, by Bryan, Ashley - Almost to Freedom, by Nelson, Vaunda Micheaux
- Alvin Ailey by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney
- Amistad – the Story of a Slave Ship by Patricia C. McKissack
- Anansi The Spider: A Tale From the Ashanti
- Andrew Young: Young Man With a Mission, by Haskins, James
- Another Way to Dance, by Southgate, Martha
- Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave, by
Hamilton, Virginia - Arts and Music by Dan Lyndon
- Ashley Bryan’s ABC of African American Poetry, by Bryan, Ashley
- Assata: An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur
- Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky, by Ringgold, Faith
- Autobiography of My Dead Brother, by Myers, Walter Dean
- Barbara Jordan, by Haskins, James
- Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature,
Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices Around
the World - Beautiful Blackbird, by Bryan, Ashley
- Becoming Billie Holiday, by Weatherford, Carole Boston
- Before John Was a Jazz Giant, by Weatherford, Carole Boston
- Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de
Saint-George, by Cline-Ransome, Lesa - Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic
Neighborhood, by Sarah Mayorga-Gallo - Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Benjamin Banneker, by Patterson, Lillie
- Bigmama’s
- Black and White: The Way I See It
- Black angels
- Black Betty by Walter Mosley
- Black Bourgeoise by E. Franklin Frazier
- Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African
Americans to the Great Outdoors, by Carolyn Finney - Black Hands, White Sails: The Story of African American Whalers, by McKissack, Patricia C. & Frederick L.
- Black Light
- Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin
- Black Londoners 1880-1990 by Susan Okokon
- Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman by Michele Wallace
- Black Mamba Boy
- Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon
- Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South, by Barbara Krauthamer
- Black Stars of the Civil Rights Movement by Jim Haskins
- Black Stars: African American Inventors
- Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First
Century - Black Troubador: Langston Hughes, by Rollins, Charlemae
- Black, Blue, and Gray: African Americans in the Civil War, Haskins,
Jim - Blood In My Eye” by George Jackson
- Blues People: Negro Music in White America,’ by Amiri Baraka
- Breaking Ground, Breaking Silence: The Story of New York’s African
Burial Ground, by Hansen, Joyce and McGowan, Gary - Breath, Eyes, Memory” by Edwidge Danticat
- Brick by Brick
- Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You A Pie by Robbin Gourley
- Broken Glass
- Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, by Christie,
R. Gregory - Buck: A Memoir by M.K. Asanta
- Bud, Not Buddy
- Buxton: A Black Utopia in the Heartland, by Schwieder, Dorothy,
Hraba, Joseph, and Schwieder, Elmer - Cane by Jean Toomer
- Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams
- Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era, by
Dan Berger - Carver: A Life in Poems, by Nelson, Marilyn
- Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics
Marie Gottschalk - Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South,
by Talitha L. LeFlouria - Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid
- Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir, by Greenfield, Eloise and
Little, Lessie Jones - Circle of Gold, by Boyd, Candy Dawson
- Coconut” by Kopano Matlwa
- Coffee Will Make You Black” by April Sinclair
- Come All You Brave Soldiers: Blacks in the Revolutionary War
- Conversations With God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African-
Americans by James Melvin Washington - Coretta Scott King, by Patterson, Lillie
- Cornrows, by Yarborough, Camille
- Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South, by
Charles L. Hughes - Crescent City Girls: The Lives of Young Black Women in Segregated New Orleans, by LaKisha Michelle Simmons
- Crossing the Continent 1527-1540: The Story of the First African-
American Explorer of the American South by Robert Goodwin - Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the
Mississippi Delta after World War II, by Françoise N. Hamlin - Dangerous Goods: Poems
- Dark Sons, by Grimes, Nikki
- Darkness Before Dawn, by Draper, Sharon
- Darktown Follies
- Days of Jubilee: The End of Slavery in the United States, by
McKissack, Patricia C. and Frederick L. - Days of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue, by Lester, Julius
- Dear Benjamin Banneker, by Pinkney, Andrea Davis and Pinkney, Brian
- Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress and the Rise of
Militant Civil Rights, by Erik S. Gellman - Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s Final
Year (by Tavis Smiley - Decoded” by Jay-Z
- Devil In A Blue Dress” by Walter Mosley
- Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire
- Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
- Dispossession: Discrimination against African American Farmers in
the Age of Civil Rights, by Pete Daniel - Dizzy by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Sean Qualls
- Don’t Explain: A Song of Billie Holiday, by De Veaux, Alexis
- Don’t Waste Your Pretty: The Go-to-Guide for Making Smarter
Decisions in Life & Love by Demetria Lucas - Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith
March Against Fear. - Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by ZZ Packer
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, by Pinkney,
Andrea Davis - Ellington Was Not a Street, by Shange, Ntozake & Nelson, Kadir
- Envisioning Freedom: Cinema and the Building of Modern Black Life”
by Cara Caddoo - Eye on the Struggle by James McGrath
- F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African
American Literature William J. Maxwell - Fallen Angels, by Myers, Walter Dean
- Family Bonds: Free Blacks and Re-enslavement Law in Antebellum
Virginia, by Ted Maris-Wolf - Family Plays Music, by Cox, Judy
- Fences by August Wilson
- Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker T. Washington by Jabari Asim,
illustrated by Bryan Collier - Finding Your Roots, Season 1: The Official Companion to the PBS
Series, by Henry Louis Gates Jr. - Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles Blow
- Firebird by Misty Copeland , Illustration by Christopher Myers
- Flight To Canada” by Ishmael Reed
- Forge
- Forged by Fire, by Draper, Sharon M.
- Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem, by Nelson, Marilyn
- Free at Last! Stories and Songs of Emancipation by Doreen Rappaport,
illustrated by Shane Evans - Freedom Now! Forgotten Photographs of the Civil Rights Struggle
- Freedom River, by Rappaport, Doreen
- Freedom Summer, by Wiles, Deb
- Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, by
Freedman, Russell - Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the
Black Founding Fathers by Richard Newman - From the Bullet to the Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black
Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago, by Jakobi
Williams - Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him
- Geographies of Liberation: The Making of an Afro-Arab Political
Imaginary, by Alex Lubin - Giants: The Parallel lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham
Lincoln, by Stauffer, John - Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story, by Ben Carson
- Glory Be
- God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse
- Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and
Power in Colonial Virginia by Kathleen M. Brown - Half Of A Yellow Sun” by Chimamanda Adichie
- Hard Driving: The Wendell Scott Story; The American Odyssey of
NASCAR’s First Black Driver by Brian Donovan - Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial by Joanna Cubbs and Eugene W.
Metcalf - Harlem Hustle, by McDonald, Janet
- Harlem Renaissance Party by Faith Ringgold
- Harlem, by Myers, Walter Dean
- Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Millsby Renee
Watson, illustrated by Christian Robinson - Harriet Tubman and My Grandmother’s Quilts by Lorenzo Pace
- Head Off & Split” by Nikky Finney
- High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing
- Hoodlums: Black Villains and Social Bandits in American Life
- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney
- How to Be Black
- How to Read the Air
- How to Rent a Negro by Damali Ayo
- Hum
- I am him and he is me” by Jeffrey Horne
- I Am Jackie Robinson by Brad Meltzer, illustrated by Christopher
Eliopoulos - I Am Not Sidney Poitier” by Percival Everett
- I Dream of Trains, by Johnson, Angela
- I Freed Myself: African American Self-Emancipation in the Civil War
Era by David Williams - I Have a Dream, by King, Martin Luther, Jr.
- I Have Heard of a Land, by Thomas, Joyce Carol
- I Love My Hair! By Natasha Anastasia Sharpley
- I Never Had It Made: the Autobiography of Jackie Robinson, as told,
by Duckett, Alfred - I See the Rhythm, by Igus, Toyomi
- I, Dred Scott : a fictional slave narrative based on the life and
legal precedent of Dred Scott - I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry
- I’ve Seen the Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., by Myers, Walter Dean - Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against
Lynching by Paula J. Giddings - If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King by Ellen Levine,
illustrated by Anna Rich - In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers, by
Schroeder, Alan - In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans
Reclaimed Their Past by Henry Louis Gates - In Search of Satisfaction by J. California Cooper
- In the Cause of Freedom: Radical Black Internationalism from Harlem
to London, 1917-1939, by Minkah Makalani - In the Land of Words: New and Selected Poems, by Gilchrist, Jan
Spivey - It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Trayler Started to Drawby Don Tate,
illustrated by R. Gregory Christie - Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist by Nancy
Goldstein - James Van Der Zee: The Picture Takin’ Man, by Haskins, James
- Jazzy Miz Mozetta, by Roberts, Brenda C.
- Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
- Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Bakerby Patricia Hruby
Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson - Journey to Jo’burg by Beverley Naidoo
- Jubilee by Margaret Walker
- Just Another Hero, by Draper, Sharon M.
- Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World, by Walter, Mildred Pitts
- Keeping the Night Watch, by Smith, Hope Anita
- Kehinde by Buchi Emecheta
- Kind One by Laird Hunt
- King Me
- King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.” by
Wil Haygood - Krik? Krak? by Edwidge Danticat
- Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family,
from Slavery to the Present by Jacqueline Jones - Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene
- Lena Horne, by Haskins, James
- Let the Lion Eat Straw, by Southerland, Ellease
- Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing
for Inmates and Their Loved Ones - Little Eight John, by Wahl, Jan
- Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown,
illustrated by Frank Morrison - Little Rock: Race and Resistance at Central High School
- Locomotion, by Woodson, Jacqueline
- Long Division by Kiese Laymon
- Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route by
Saidiya Hartman - Lou in the Limelight, by Hunter, Kristin
- Lovesong: Becoming a Jew by Julius Lester
- Loving Day by Mat Johnson
- Lynched: The Victims of Southern Mob Violence, by Amy Kate Bailey
and Stewart E. Tolnay - Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens
- Maizon at Blue Hill, by Woodson, Jacqueline
- Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, by Myers, Walter Dean
- March: Book One
- March: Book Two (by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
- Mare’s War, by Davis, Tanita S.
- Marvin and Tige, by Glass, Frankcina
- Mary McLeod Bethune, by Greenfield, Eloise
- Meaty by Samantha Irby
- Meaty: Essays
- Meet Danitra Brown, by Grimes, Nikki
- Michelle, by Hopkinson, Deborah
- Middle Passage
- Mining for Freedom: Black History Meets the California Gold Rush,
Roberts, Sylvia Alden - Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, by Schroeder, Alan
- Miracle’s Boys, by Woodson, Jacqueline
- Mirandy and Brother Wind, by McKissack, Patricia
- Mississippi Challenge, by Walter, Mildred Pitts
- Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove
- Mobilizing New York: AIDS, Antipoverty, and Feminist Activism, by
Tamar W. Carroll - Molly Bannaky, by Soentpiet, Chris K. and McGill, Alice
- Molly, by Golly! by Dianne Ochiltree, illustrated by Kathleen Kemly
- Monster, by Myers, Walter Dean
- Moses, by Weatherford, Carole
- Movin’ Up, by Gordy, Berry
- Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed
- My Brother Martin, by Farris, Christine King
- My Chill Wind, by McDonald, Janet
- My Daddy and I
- My Jim : a novel
- Nathaniel Talking, by Greenfield, Eloise
- Neeny Coming, Neeny Going, by English, Karen
- Nervous Conditions” by Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Never Forgotten, by McKissack, Patricia
- Night on the Neighborhood Street, by Greenfield, Eloise
- Nina Bonita
- Ninth Ward
- Notes From No Man’s Land by Eula Biss
- Notes on Virginia
- Now is Your Time: The African American Struggle for Freedom, by
Myers, Walter Dean - Numbering all the Bones, by Rinaldi, Ann
- On the Corner: African American Intellectuals and the Urban Crisis
- One Day My Soul Just Opened Up by Iyanla Vanzant
- Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojouner Truth, by Rockwell, Anne
- Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class” by Lawrence
Otis Graham - Out of the hosue of bondage
- Papa’s Mark, by Lavert, Gwendolyn
- Paul Robeson: A Watched Man
- Peaceful Protest: The Life of Nelson Mandela by Yona Zeldis
McDonough, illustrated by Malcah Zeldis - Place Not Race by Sheryll Cashin
- Poetry for Young People by Maya Angelou
- Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and Other Wily
Characters, by McKissack, Patricia C. illustrated by Carrilho, Andre - Portia: The Life of Portia Washington Pittman, the Daughter of
Booker T. Washington, by Stewart, Ruth Ann - Portraits of African-American Heroes, by Bolden, Tonya and Pitcairn,
Ansel - Postcards from Cookie: A Memoir of Motherhood, Miracles, and a Whole
Lot of Mail - Power to the Poor: Black-Brown Coalition and the Fight for Economic
Justice, 1960-1974, by Gordon K. Mantler - Powerful Words, by Hudson, Wade
- Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall
- Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones
- Purple Hibiscus
- Race Rebels : Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class by
Robin D.G. Kelley - Rainbow Jordan, by Childress, Alice
- Ray Charles, by Mathis, Sharon Bell
- Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts, by McKissack,
Patricia C. and Frederick L. - Red Now and Laters
- Remember: The Journey to School Integration, by Morrison, Toni
- Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal
Experiences of Slavery and Freedom - Roll with It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans
- Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories, by Greenberg, Jan
- Roots: The Saga of an American Family” by Alex Haley
- Ruby by Cynthia Bond
- Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation, John Hope Franklin
- Running the Road to ABC, by Lauture, Denize
- Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan with Roslyn M. Jordan,
illustrated by Kadir Nelson - Scratching
- Sea of Storms: A History of Hurricanes in the Greater Caribbean from
Columbus to Katrina Stuart B. Schwartz - Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
- Shades of Black – A Celebration of Our Children by Sandra L. Pinkney
- Sharecropper’s Troubadour: John L. Handcox, the Southern Tenant
Farmers’ Union, and the African American Song Tradition - She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story by Audrey Vernick,
illustrated by Don Tate - Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History
- Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry
- Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, by Pinkney,
Andrea Davis and Pinkney, Brian - Skates of Uncle Richard, by Fenner, Carol
- Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat by Roxane Orgill, illustrated by Sean Qualls
- Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from
the Civil War to World War II, by Douglas A. Blackmon - Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride by Andrea Davis Pinkney and
Brian Pinkney - Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson by George
Jackson - Someone Knows My Name
- Something on My Mind, by Grimes, Nikki
- Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison
- Soujourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?, by McKissack, Patricia C. and
Frederick L. - Soul Looks Back in Wonder, by Fogelman, Phyllis
- Soul Thieves: White America’s Appropriation of African American
Culture - Sounder
- Southscapes: Geographies of Race, Region, and Literature, by
Thadious M. Davis - Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama’s America
- Stories Huey Tells
- Storm in the Night, by Stolz, Mary
- Strange Fruit, Volume I: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History
by Joel Christian Gill - Street Love, by Myers, Walter Dean
- Sula” by Toni Morrison
- Tales of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
- Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, by
- Grimes, Nikki
- Tell It with Pride: The 54th Massachusetts Regiment and Augustus
Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial - The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, by Cheikh Anta Diop
- The Awesome Girl’s Guide to Dating Extraordinary Men by Ernessa
Carter - The Bat Boy and His Violin, by Curtis, Gavin
- The Battle of Jericho, by Draper, Sharon
- The Black Power Mixtape: 1967–1975
- The Blacker the Berry by Wallace Thurman
- The book of negroes
- The Boy in the Black Suit (by Jason Reynolds
- The Broken King
- The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The Chronicle of Jazz
- The Civil War: The Final Year Told by Those Who Lived It
- The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America,
by Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey - The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
- The Day Gogo Went to Vote by Elinor Sisulu
- The Debt by Randall Robinson
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves’ Civil War, by
David S. Cecelski - The First Part Last, by Johnson, Angela
- The Freedom Business, by Nelson, Marilyn
- The Freedom Summer Murders
- The Good Lord Bird
- The Great Migration: An American Story, by Lawrence, Jacob
- The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-
Reed - The Hero’s Fight: African Americans in West Baltimore and the Shadow
of the State Patricia Fernández-Kelly - The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave Related by Herself.
The Abolition Project - The Hunterman and the Crocodile, by Diakitè, Baba Waguè
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” by Olaudah
Equiano - The Intuitionist” by Colson Whitehead
- The Invisible Hunters: A Legend from the Miskito Indians of
Nicaragua, by Rohmer, Harriet et al - The Jim Crow Routine: Everyday Performances of Race, Civil Rights,
and Segregation in Mississippi, by Stephen A. Berrey - The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano, by Cameron, Ann
- The Known World” by Edward P. Jones
- The Land, by Taylor, Mildred
- The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad
- The Legend of Africana, by Robinson, Dorothy
- The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad, by Claude Andrew Clegg III
- The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander
- The Lion & the Mouse
- The Lions of Little Rock
- The Little Black Book of Success by Elaine Meryl Brown, Rhonda Joy
McLean and Marsha Haygood - The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the
Pursuit of Power Leah Wright Rigueur - The Lost Treasure of R&B by Nelson George
- The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl, by Hamilton, Virginia
- The Magnificent Twelve: Florida’s Black Junior Colleges, by Smith,
Ph.D., Walter L. - The Middle Passage: White Ships Black Cargo, by Feelings, Tom
- The Moon Over Star, by Aston, Dianna Hutts
- The Moon Ring, by DuBurke, Randy
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers, by Hughes, Langston and Lewis, E. B.
- The Origin of Life on Earth: An African Creation Myth, by Anderson,
David A. - The Other Side of Paradise” by Staceyann Chin
- The Other Side: Shorter Poems, by Johnson, Angela
- The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream, by
Davis, Sampson, Jenkins, George, Hunt, Rameck, with Page, Lisa
Frazier - The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children, by
Christie, Gregorie - The Patchwork Quilt, by Flournoy, Valerie
- The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
- The Piano Man, by Chocolate, Debbie
- The Poetry of Derek Walcott: 1948–2013
- The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil
Rights - The Portable Malcolm X Reader
- The Presidency in Black and White by April Ryan
- The Prisoner’s Wife by asha bandele
- The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race, and the Birth of the
Manhattan Musical Marketplace, by David Gilbert - The Red Rose Box, by Woods, Brenda
- The Road to Memphis, by Taylor, Mildred
- The Road to Paris, by Grimes, Nikki
- The Scorpion’s Sting: Antislavery and the Coming of the Civil War
- The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise by
Paul Gardullo - The Sellout by Paul Beatty
- The Silence of Our Friends
- The Singing Man, by Medearis, by Shelf, Angela
- The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black
Women in America by Tamara Winfrey Harris - The Skin I’m In, by Flake, Sharon
- The Slaves’ War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves by
Andrew Ward - The Story of Rosa Parks by Patricia A. Pingry
- The Strange Career of Porgy and Bess: Race, Culture, and America’s
Most Famous Opera, by Ellen Noonan - The Strange History of the American Quadroon: Free Women of Color in
- the Revolutionary Atlantic World, by Emily Clark
- The Strange New Feeling, by Lester, Julius
- The Street by Ann Petry
- The Struggle for Equal Adulthood: Gender, Race, Age, and the Fight
for Citizenship in Antebellum America, by Corinne T. Field - The Truth about Awiti by CP Patrick
- The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
- The Value in the Valley: A Black Woman’s Guide Through Life’s
Dilemmas” by Iyanla Vanzant - The War on Words: Slavery, Race, and Free Speech in American
Literature - The Watsons Go to Birmingham, by Curtis, Christopher Paul
- The Way a Door Closes, by Smith, Hope Anita
- The Ways of White Folks by Langston Hughes
- The Wealth of My Mother’s Wisdom: The Lessons That Made My Life Rich
- The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes
- The Wedding by Dorothy West
- The White Boy Shuffle” by Paul Beatty
- The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., by Coretta Scott King
- The Wretched of the Earth” by Frantz Fanon
- The Young Landlords, by Myers, Walter Dean
- Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Lies, Lessons, and Love
Affairs by Pearl Cleage - This Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-
Soul South, by Zandria F. Robinson - This Bridge Called My Back by Cherríe L. Moraga
- This is the Dream by Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander,
illustrated by James Ransome - This Life, by Poitier, Sidney
- Thomas and Beulah
- Thunder Rose, by Nolen, Jerdine
- Time On Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (edited
by Devon W Carbado and Donald Weise - Time’s memory
- Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Samuel Delaney
- To Be a Slave, by Lester, Julius
- Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History
of Blacks in American Films - Toning the Sweep, by Johnson, Angela
- Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women, edited by Mia E. Bay,
Farah J. Griffin, Martha S. Jones, and Barbara D. Savage - Trouble’s Child, by Walter, Mildred Pitts
- Tumbling by Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali, by Smith Jr.,
Charles R. - Twelve Years a Slave: A Memoir of Kidnap, Slavery and Liberation
- Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir
- Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales
- Under My Skin” by Orville Lloyd Douglas
- Under the Sunday Tree, by Greenfield, Eloise
- Underground
- Undisputed Truth
- Up From Slavery
- Urban Tumbleweed
- Vintage Black Glamour by Nichelle Gainer
- Visiting Langston, by Collier, Bryan
- Waiting to Exhale by Terri McMillan
- Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africaby Jeanette Winter
- We a BaddDDD People by Sonia Sanchez
- We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Nelson,
Kadir - We Beat the Street: How a Friendship Led to Success, by Davis,
Sampson, Jenkins, George, Hunt, Rameck and Draper, Sharon - We Need New Names
- Welcome to my breakdown” by Benilde Little
- Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
- When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost by Joan Morgan
- When I Am Old With You, by Johnson, Angela
- When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by
Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III - Who We Be: The Colorization of America (by Jeff Chang
- Why I Love Black Women by Michael Eric Dyson
- Without Mercy: The Stunning True Story of Race, Crime, and
Corruption in the Deep South. - Wizard of the Crow
- Women of Hope: African Americans Who Made a Difference
- Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought by
Beverly Guy-Sheftall (editor) - Words With Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art
edited by Belinda Rochelle - Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine by Bebe Moore Campbell
- Zami: A New Spelling of My Name” by Audre Lorde
The 29 “Best Black History” Articles Arranged by Date Published
- 3/11/2011: Madame Noire – 13 BOOKS THAT EVERY AFRICAN-AMERICAN SHOULD HAVE IN HIS/HER HOME
- 2012: Babble – BEST CHILDREN’S BOOKS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH
- 7/4/2012: Huffington Post – 50 Books That Every African American Should Read
- 11/8/2012: Essence – The Write or Die Chick: 50 Good Books Every Black Woman Should Read
- 10/31/2013: Library journal – African American Experiences: 50 Titles for February 2014, Black History Month
- 2/5/2014: Flavorwire – 10 Recent Nonfiction Books to Read for Black History Month
- 2/10/2014: Christian Science Monitor – Black History Month: 10 must-read classics by African American authors
- 2/23/2014: Daily Kos – Black History is American history: Books you should read
- 2/2/2015: What We Do All Day – 11 CHAPTER BOOKS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH
- 2/3/2015: Village Voice – READ THESE LESSER-KNOWN BOOKS ON RACE THIS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
- 2/5/2015: NCAC – Top 10 Banned Books that Changed the Face of Black History
- 2/6/2015: Cool Mom Picks – 10 outstanding Black History Month books for kids of all ages
- 2/9/2015: NBC News – 14 Books to Read This Black History Month
- 2/10/2015: The Guardian – Black History Month reading list: the best books this February
- 2/11/2015: Princeton University Press – 2015 Black History Month Reading List
- 2/12/2015: Refinery 29 – The 10 Best Reads For Black History Month
- 2/13/2015: UNC Press – 2015 African American History Month Reading List
- 2/15/2015: Brit Co – 17 Books You Should Read for Black History Month
- 2/24/2015: Buzzfeed – 26 Children’s Books That Celebrate Black Heroes
- 2/27/2015: NY Daily News – A look back at Black history month’s books
- 3/2/2015: Bookriot – Black History Books for the Whole Year (Because 28 Days Are Not Enough)
- 5/25/2015: The Grio – Honoring black writers: 25 books for your summer reading
- 10/1/2015: The Green Parent – 20 books for kids – Black History Month
- Just Read Florida – 2015 Black History Month Recommended Reading
- Reading Rockets – Favorite Books for Black History Month
- Abe Books – Top 10 Black History Non-Fiction
- Education World Books – Celebrate Black History Month
- Book Trust – Black History Month Books
- Toronto Public Library – Black History Novels for Teens
