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Black History MonthUnpublished

February is Black History Month! Celebrate the history and culture of Black and African Americans with these library titles.

This list was compiled by South Pasadena Public Library staff and members of the South Pasadena Public Library Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee.

Updated February 13, 2025

South Pasadena Public Library

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You are your best thing : vulnerability, shame resilience, and the Black experience -- an anthology

Burke, Tarana

Paper Book

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Tarana Burke and Dr. Brené Brown bring together a dynamic group of Black writers, organizers, artists, academics, and cultural figures to discuss the topics the two have dedicated their lives to understanding and teaching:...

The warmth of other suns : the epic story of America's great migration

Wilkerson, Isabel.

Paper Book

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES'S FIVE BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY * A LOS ANGELES TIMES...

The fire next time

Baldwin, James

Paper Book

A stirring, intimate reflection on the nature of race and American nationhood that has inspired generations of writers and thinkers, first published in 1963, the same year as the March on Washington "The finest essay I've ever read."--Ta-Nehisi Coates, #1 New York Times...

Surviving the white gaze : a memoir

Carroll, Rebecca

Paper Book

An Esquire Best Book of 2021 A stirring and powerful memoir from black cultural critic Rebecca Carroll recounting her painful struggle to overcome a completely white childhood in order to forge her identity as a black woman in America. Rebecca Carroll...

Between the world and me

Coates, Ta-Nehisi

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * NAMED ONE OF TIME'S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST * ONE OF OPRAH'S "BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH" * NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT ...

Our time is now : power, purpose, and the fight for a fair America

Abrams, Stacey

Paper Book

From New York Times bestselling author of Lead From The Outside and political leader Stacey Abrams, a blueprint to end voter suppression, empower our citizens, and take back our country. "With each page, she inspires and empowers us to create systems that...

The selected works of Audre Lorde

Lorde, Audre

Paper Book

A definitive selection of Audre Lorde's "intelligent, fierce, powerful, sensual, provocative, indelible" (Roxane Gay) prose and poetry, for a new generation of readers. Self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet" Audre Lorde is an unforgettable voice in twentieth-century...

I know why the caged bird sings

Angelou, Maya.

Paper Book

Superbly told, with the poet's gift for language and observation, Angelou's autobiography of her childhood in Arkansas - a world of which most Americans are ignorant.

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...

Unbound : my story of liberation and the birth of the Me Too movement

Burke, Tarana

Paper Book

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Searing. Powerful. Needed." --Oprah "Sometimes a single story can change the world. Unbound is one of those stories. Tarana's words are a testimony to liberation and love." --Brené Brown From...

Becoming

Obama, Michelle

Paper Book

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WATCH THE EMMY-NOMINATED NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER * ONE OF...

Better, not bitter : living on purpose in the pursuit of racial justice

Salaam, Yusef

Paper Book

Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, that will inspire us all to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice.

Men we reaped : a memoir

Ward, Jesmyn.

Paper Book

Named one of the Best Books of the Century by New York Magazine The two-time National Book Award winner and author of Salvage the Bones and Let Us Descend, contends with the deaths of five young men dear to her, and the risk of being a Black man in the...

Invisible man

Ellison, Ralph.

Paper Book

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time * Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its...

Their eyes were watching God

Hurston, Zora Neale.

Paper Book

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick "A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don't know how to live properly." --Zadie Smith One of the most important...

Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick : stories from the Harlem Renaissance

Hurston, Zora Neale

Paper Book

From "one of the greatest writers of our time" (Toni Morrison)--the author of Barracoon and Their Eyes Were Watching God--a collection of remarkable stories, including eight "lost" Harlem Renaissance tales now available to a wide audience for the first time. New York Times'...

Beloved : a novel

Morrison, Toni.

Paper Book

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A spellbinding novel that transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. With a new afterword by the author. This "brutally powerful, mesmerizing story" (...

Copper sun

Draper, Sharon M.

Paper Book

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) In this "searing work of historical fiction" (Booklist), Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Sharon M. Draper tells the epic story of a young girl torn from her African village, sold into slavery, and stripped of...

The Underground Railroad : a novel

Whitehead, Colson

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * "An American masterpiece" (NPR) that chronicles a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. One of The New York Times's 10 Best Books of...

Red at the bone

Woodson, Jacqueline

Paper Book

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR "A spectacular novel that only this legend can pull off." -Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of HOW TO BE AN...

March. Book one

Lewis, John

Paper Book

#1New York TimesBestseller Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon and key figure of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper's farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to...

Ain't burned all the bright

Reynolds, Jason

Paper Book

A Caldecott Honor winner! Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds....

Black birds in the sky : the story and legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Colbert, Brandy

Paper Book

A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre. Winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In the early morning of June 1, 1921,...

Homegoing

Gyasi, Yaa

Paper Book

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

Kindred

Butler, Octavia E.

Paper Book

Selected by The Atlantic as one of THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS. ("You have to read them.") From the New York Times bestselling author of Parable of the Sower and MacArthur "Genius" Grant, Nebula, and Hugo award winner The visionary time-travel classic whose...

Monster

Myers, Walter Dean

Paper Book

This New York Times bestselling novel from acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers tells the story of Steve Harmon, a teenage boy in juvenile detention and on trial. Presented as a screenplay of Steve's own imagination, and peppered with journal entries, the book shows how one single decision...

Dear Martin

Stone, Nic

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WILLIAM C. MORRIS AWARD FINALIST * ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME After a traffic stop turns violent at the hands of the police, a young Black teen grapples with racism--and what it means for his future....

The hate u give

Thomas, Angie

Paper Book

8 starred reviews · Goodreads Choice Awards Best of the Best · William C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Honor Book · #1 New York Times Bestseller! "Absolutely riveting!" --Jason Reynolds "Stunning." -...

Punching the air

Zoboi, Ibi Aanu

Paper Book

New York Times and USA Today bestseller * Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor * Walter Award Winner * Goodreads Finalist for Best Teen Book of the Year * Time Magazine Best Book of the Year * Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * Shelf Awareness Best Book of...

Selected poems of Langston Hughes

Hughes, Langston

Paper Book

The appearance in 1926 of Langston Hughes's first volume of poems, The Weary Blues, announced the arrival on the American literary scene not only of a new voice and tone, but also of a new sort of voice. Close to the rhythms of Negro speech and song, these apparently artless verses -- which, of...

Revolution in our time : the Black Panther Party's promise to the people

Magoon, Kekla

Paper Book

A National Book Award Finalist A Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor Book A Michael L. Printz Honor Book A Walter Dean Myers Honor Book With passion and precision, Kekla Magoon relays an essential account of the Black...

The light we carry : overcoming in uncertain times

Obama, Michelle

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER * In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today's highly uncertain world.<...

The wind at my back : resilience, grace, and other gifts from my mentor, Raven Wilkinson

Copeland, Misty

Paper Book

From celebrated ballerina and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland, a heartfelt memoir about her friendship with trailblazer Raven Wilkinson which captures the importance of mentorship, shared history, and honoring the past to ensure a stronger future. ...

African founders : how enslaved people expanded American ideals

Fischer, David Hackett

Paper Book

In this sweeping, foundational work, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer draws on extensive research to show how enslaved Africans and their descendants enlarged American ideas of freedom in varying ways in different regions of the early United States. ...

The Trayvon generation

Alexander, Elizabeth

Paper Book

From a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author and poet comes a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America's unresolved problem with race. *Named a Most Anticipated Title of 2022 by TIME <...

Black cake : a novel

Wilkerson, Charmaine

Paper Book

NOW A HULU STREAMING SERIES * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * Two estranged siblings delve into their mother's hidden past--and how it all connects to her traditional Caribbean black cake--in this immersive family saga, "a...

Let us descend : a novel

Ward, Jesmyn

Paper Book

OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * Instant New York Times Bestseller * Named one of the best books of 2023 by The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, Time, The New Yorker, and more. "Nothing short of epic,...

The vanishing half

Bennett, Brit

Paper Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2020 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE * VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR New York Times<...

The personal librarian

Benedict, Marie

Paper Book

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world as she helps build a world-class collection. But...

River sing me home

Shearer, Eleanor

Paper Book

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * This beautiful, page-turning and redemptive story of a mother's gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children and piece her family back together is a "celebration of motherhood and female resilience" (The Observer). ...

Memphis : a novel

Stringfellow, Tara M.

Paper Book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter's discovery that she has the power to change her family's legacy. "A rhapsodic hymn to...

The first ladies

Benedict, Marie

Paper Book

The daughter of formerly enslaved parents, Mary McLeod Bethune refuses to back down as white supremacists attempt to thwart her work. She marches on as an activist and an educator, and as her reputation grows she becomes a celebrity, revered by titans of business and recognized by U.S. Presidents....

Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race

Lee Shetterly, Margot.

Paper Book

The #1 New York Times bestseller -WINNER OF ANISFIELD-WOLF AWARD FOR NONFICTION -WINNER BLACK CAUCUS OF AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION BEST NONFICTION BOOK -WINNER NAACP IMAGE AWARD BEST NONFICTION BOOK -WINNER NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES,...

For colored girls who have considered suicide, when the rainbow is enuf : a choreopoem

Shange, Ntozake.

Paper Book

Ntozake Shange's classic, award-winning play encompassing the wide-ranging experiences of Black women, now with introductions by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward and Broadway director Camille A. Brown. From its inception in California in 1974 to its Broadway...

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Black History MonthUnpublishedShare

Black History MonthUnpublished