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Black History Month Books for Adults
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Celebrate Black History Month with recommended fiction and nonfiction for adults.
Updated January 29, 2024
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Black TV : five decades of groundbreaking television from Soul Train to Black-ish and beyond
Butler, Bethonie
Paper Book
With iconic imagery and engrossing text, Black TV is the first book of its kind to celebrate the groundbreaking, influential, and often under-appreciated shows centered on Black people and their experiences from the last fifty years. Over the past...
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The swans of Harlem : five Black ballerinas, fifty years of sisterhood, and the reclamation of a groundbreaking history
Valby, Karen
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK * The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas and their fifty-year sisterhood, a legacy erased from history--until now. "This is the kind of history I wish I learned as a child dreaming of the stage!" --Misty...
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Black folk : the roots of the Black working class
Kelley, Blair Murphy
Paper Book
There have been countless books, articles, and televised reports in recent years about the almost mythic "white working class," a tide of commentary that has obscured the labor, and even the very existence, of entire groups of working people, including everyday Black workers. In this brilliant...
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Gather me : a memoir in praise of the books that saved me
Edim, Glory
Paper Book
A "dramatic [and] ingeniously crafted" (Los Angeles Times) memoir of family, community, and resilience, and an ode to the power of books to help us understand ourselves, from the renowned founder of Well-Read Black Girl. "A beautiful portrait of a full life that...
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My people : five decades of writing about Black lives
Hunter-Gault, Charlayne
Paper Book
"Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an eminent Dean of American journalism, a vital voice whose work chronicled the civil rights movement and so much of what has transpired since then. My People is the definitive collection of her reportage and commentary. Spanning datelines in the American...
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Illustrated Black history : honoring the iconic and the unseen
McCalman, George
Paper Book
*AWARD WINNER* of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author / and the NCBR Recognition Award A gorgeous collection of 145 original portraits that celebrates Black pioneers--famous and little-known--in politics, science, literature, music, and more-...
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Before the movement : the hidden history of Black civil rights
Penningroth, Dylan C.
Paper Book
The familiar story of civil rights goes like this: once, America's legal system shut Black people out and refused to recognize their rights, their basic human dignity, or even their very lives. When lynch mobs gathered, police and judges often closed their eyes, if they didn't join in. For Black...
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Formidable : American women and the fight for equality, 1920-2020
Griffith, Elisabeth
Paper Book
"An essential history of the struggle by both Black and white women to achieve their equal rights."--Hillary Rodham Clinton The Nineteenth Amendment was an incomplete victory. Black and white women fought hard for voting rights and doubled the number of eligible voters, but the...
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The prophets : a novel
Jones, Robert, Jr.
Paper Book
Best Book of the Year NPR * The Washington Post * Boston Globe * TIME * USA Today * Entertainment Weekly * Real Simple * Parade * Buzzfeed * Electric Literature * LitHub * BookRiot * PopSugar * Goop * Library Journal * BookBub...
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African Europeans : an untold history
Otele, Olivette
Paper Book
A dazzling history of Africans in Europe, revealing their unacknowledged role in shaping the continent One of the Best History Books of 2021 -- Smithsonian Conventional wisdom holds that Africans are only a recent presence in Europe. But in African...
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Black girls must die exhausted : a novel
Allen, Jayne
Paper Book
"It's a good thing that this is only the first book of a trilogy, because after getting to know Tabitha, you won't want to leave her at the end. . . . Written intimately as if you're peering into the mind of a close friend, this book is a true testament to the stresses on women today and how...
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Black firsts : 500 years of trailblazing achievements and ground-breaking events
Smith, Jessie Carney
Paper Book
A celebration of achievement, accomplishments, and pride! The first African American president, U.S. senator, and the first black lawyer in the Department of Education. The first black chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first African American commissioned...
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The 1619 Project : a new origin story
Hannah-Jones, Nikole
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER * A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present. "[A] groundbreaking compendium . . ....
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The three mothers : how the mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin shaped a nation
Tubbs, Anna Malaika
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller "This dynamic blend of biography and manifesto centers on Louise Little, Alberta King, and Berdis Baldwin . . . Tubbs's book stands against the women's erasure, a monument to their historical importance." --The New Yorker...
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Monster in the middle
Yanique, Tiphanie
Paper Book
When Fly and Stela meet in New York City, it seems like fate. He's a Black American musician from a mixed-religious background who knows all about heartbreak. She's a Catholic science teacher from the Caribbean, looking for lasting love. But are they meant to be? The answer goes back decades - all...
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Four hundred souls : a community history of African America, 1619-2019
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present--edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on...
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Black women taught us : an intimate history of Black feminism
Jackson, Jenn M.
Paper Book
A reclamation of essential history and a hopeful gesture toward a better political future, this is what listening to Black women looks like-from a professor of political science and columnist for Teen Vogue. "Jenn M. Jackson is a beautiful writer and excellent scholar....
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The art of Ruth E. Carter : costuming Black history and the Afrofuture, from Do the right thing to Black Panther
Carter, Ruth E.
Paper Book
The definitive, deluxe art book from costume design legend Ruth E. Carter. Ruth E. Carter is a living legend of costume design. For three decades, she has shaped the story of the Black experience on screen--from the '80s streetwear of Do the Right Thing to...
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Our South : Black food through my lens
Shanti, Ashleigh
Paper Book
ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Washington Post, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Forbes, EATER, Smithsonian Magazine, Library Journal * ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS TO GIFT: The Strategist, Domino Raised in Appalachia, native daughter...
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Praisesong for the kitchen ghosts : stories and recipes from five generations of black country cooks
Wilkinson, Crystal
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, throughpowerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poetlaureate of Kentucky."With Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts,...
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Invisible man
Ellison, Ralph.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. One of The Atlantic<...
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Native son
Wright, Richard
CD
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in...
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Ring shout : or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the end times
Clark, P. Djèlí
Paper Book
IN AMERICA, DEMONS WEAR WHITE HOODS. In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth....
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Out there screaming : an anthology of new Black horror
Peele, Jordan
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling...
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All the sinners bleed
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * USA Today Bestseller * Washington Post's The Twelve Best Thrillers of the Year * TIME's 100 Must Read Books of the Year * Goodreads Choice Award Nominee * USA Today's Best Reviewed Books of the Year * BookPage's Best...
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Song of Solomon
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An official Oprah Winfrey's "The Books That Help Me Through" selection * The acclaimed Nobel Prize winner transfigures the coming-of-age story with this brilliantly imagined novel. Includes a new foreword by the author. One of The...
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The fifth season
Jemisin, N. K.
Paper Book
At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times) This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time. ...
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Homegoing : a novel
Gyasi, Yaa
CD
Winner of the NBCC's John Leonard First Book Prize A New York Times 2016 Notable Book One of Oprah's 10 Favorite Books of 2016 NPR's Debut Novel of the Year One of Buzzfeed's Best Fiction Books Of 2016 One of Time's Top 10 Novels of 2016
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