Black History Month Non-Fiction for Adults

A selection of non-fiction books that highlight the history, accomplishments and experiences of Black Canadians.

Updated January 25, 2025
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Black boys like me : confrontations with race, identity, and belonging
Morris, Matthew R.
Paper Book
'This is an examination of the parts that construct my Black character; from how public schooling shapes our ideas about ourselves to how hip-hop and sports are simultaneously the conduit for both Black abundance and Black boundaries. This book is a meditation on the influences that have shaped...
Black women who dared
Moyer, Naomi M.
Paper Book
Inspirational stories of ten Black women and women's collectives from Canadian and American history. Included are leaders and groundbreakers who were anti-slavery activists, business women, health-care activists, civic organizers and educators. Celebrate these remarkable women, some of whom you may...
Black writers matter
French, Whitney
Paper Book
"Black Writers? African, Bluesy, Classical, Disrespectful,  Erudite, Fiery, Groovy, Haunting, Inspiring, Jazzy, Knowing, Liberating, Militant, Nervy, Optimistic, Pugnacious, Quixotic, Rambunctious, Seductive, Truculent, Urgent, Vivacious, Wicked, X-ray sharp, Yearning, Zesty. And so, they...
The girl in the middle : growing up between black and white, rich and poor
Granofsky, Anais
Paper Book
In this poignant and timely memoir--written with the searing power of Beautiful Struggle and Born a Crime--Degrassi Junior High star Anais Granofsky contemplates the lingering impact of a childhood spent in two opposite and warring worlds. Though recognized around the world for her role as...
The hanging of Angélique : the untold story of Canadian slavery and the burning of Old Montréal
Cooper, Afua
Paper Book
During the night of April 10, 1734, Montréal burned. Marie-Joseph Angélique, a twenty-nine-year-old slave, was arrested, tried, and found guilty of starting the blaze that consumed forty-six buildings. Suspecting that she had not acted alone and angered that she had maintained her innocence,...
Harriet's Legacies: Race, Historical Memory, and Futures in Canada
Cummings, Ronald
Paper Book
Historic freedom fighter and conductor of the Underground Railroad Harriet Tubman risked her life to ferry enslaved people from America to freedom in Canada. Her legacy instigates and orients this exploration of the history of Black lives and the future of collective struggle in Canada. ...
I've been meaning to tell you : a letter to my daughter
Chariandy, David John
Paper Book
In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, acclaimed novelist David Chariandy's latest is an intimate and profoundly beautiful meditation on the politics of race today....
The long road home : on Blackness and belonging
Thompson, Debra
Paper Book
INSTANT BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION From a leading scholar on the politics of race comes a work of family history, memoir, and insight gained from a unique journey across the continent, on what it is to be Black in...
Ordinary notes
Sharpe, Christina Elizabeth
Paper Book
A finalist for the National Book Award in Nonfiction A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction Named a Best Book of 2023 by The New York Times, NPR, New York magazine, Kirkus, and Barnes and Noble ...
Out of the sun : on race and storytelling
Edugyan, Esi
Paper Book
An insightful exploration and moving meditation on identity, art, and belonging from one of the most celebrated writers of the last decade.  What happens when we begin to consider stories at the margins, when we grant them centrality? How does that complicate our certainties about who...
Saga boy : my life of blackness and becoming
Downing, Antonio Michael
Paper Book
An Essence Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2021 A Bustle Most Anticipated Book of September 2021 Blending mythology and memory, Saga Boy follows a young Black immigrant's vibrant personal metamorphosis. Growing up as a clever, willful boy in a tiny village in the tropical...
Shame on me an anatomy of race and belonging
McWatt, Tessa
Ebook
FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD FOR NON-FICTION   Interrogating our ideas of race through the lens of her own multi-racial identity, critically acclaimed novelist Tessa McWatt turns her eye on herself, her body and this world in a powerful new work of non-fiction...
The skin we're in a year of Black resistance and power
Cole, Desmond
Ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE 2020 TORONTO BOOK AWARD A bracing, provocative, and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. The Skin We're In will spark a national conversation, influence policy, and...

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