Black History Month

Updated February 2, 2024
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Conversations with James Baldwin
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
This collection of interviews with James Baldwin covers the period 1961-1987, from the year of the publication of Nobody Knows My Names, his fourth book, to just a few weeks before his death. It includes the last formal conversation with him. Twenty-seven interviews reprinted here come...
The vanishing half
Bennett, Brit
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK BY THE NEW YORK TIMES * THE WASHINGTON POST * NPR * PEOPLE * TIME MAGAZINE * VANITY FAIR * GLAMOUR * BARACK OBAMA New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century...
The tradition
Brown, Jericho
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE FOR POETRY Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award "100 Notable Books of the Year," The New York Times Book Review One Book, One Philadelphia Citywide Reading Program Selection, 2021 "By some literary magic--no, it's precision, and...
The polished hoe : a novel
Clarke, Austin
Paper Book
When Mary-Mathilda, one of the most respected women on the colonized island of Bimshire (also known as Barbados), calls the police to confess to a crime, the result is a shattering all-night vigil. She claims the crime is against Mr. Belfeels, the powerful manager of the sugar plantation that...
When we say Black lives matter
Clarke, Maxine Beneba
Paper Book
In a powerful, poetic missive, award-winning author-illustrator Maxine Beneba Clarke celebrates the meaning behind the words Black Lives Matter. Little one, when we say Black Lives Matter, we're saying Black people are wonderful-strong. That we...
Octavia E. Butler's Kindred
Duffy, Damian
Paper Book
Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller Octavia E. Butler's bestselling literary science-fiction masterpiece, Kindred, now in graphic novel format. More than 35 years after its release, Kindred continues to draw in new readers with its deep exploration of the violence and...
Alvin Ailey, a life in dance
Dunning, Jennifer.
Paper Book
Now for the first time, the life and work of Alvin Ailey, one of the most beloved figures in modern dance, is examined by a writer uniquely able to place him and his legacy in perspective. Jennifer Dunning, New York Times dance critic and reporter, brings her expertise, extensive...
Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race
Eddo-Lodge, Reni
Paper Book
Selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for January/February 2018 Sunday Times Bestseller Winner of the British Book Awards Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year Winner of the Jhalak Prize "This is a book that...
Washington Black : a novel
Edugyan, Esi
Paper Book
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST * "A gripping historical narrative exploring both the bounds of slavery and what it means to be truly free." --Vanity Fair Eleven-year-old George Washington...
Half-blood blues : a novel
Edugyan, Esi.
Paper Book
Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize Man Booker Prize Finalist 2011 An Oprah Magazine Best Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction Berlin, 1939. The Hot Time Swingers, a popular...
The games black girls play : learning the ropes from Double-dutch to Hip-hop
Gaunt, Kyra Danielle.
Paper Book
2007 Alan Merriam Prize presented by the Society for Ethnomusicology 2007 PEN/Beyond Margins Book Award Finalist Explores how the traditions of black music are intertwined in the games black girls grow up with When we think of African...
Soul of a nation : art in the age of Black power
Godfrey, Mark
Paper Book
African American art in the era of Malcolm X and the Black Panthers In the period of radical change that was 1963-83, young black artists at the beginning of their careers confronted difficult questions about art, politics and racial identity. How to make art that would...
Someone knows my name
Hill, Lawrence
Paper Book
Kidnapped from Africa as a child, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned their freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship...
Any known blood
Hill, Lawrence
Paper Book
Spanning five generations, sweeping across a century and a half of almost unknown history, this acclaimed and unexpectedly funny novel is the story of a man seeking himself in the mirror of his family's past. There were Canes in Canada before the United States erupted into civil war. Their...
Someone knows my name
Hill, Lawrence
Paper Book
Kidnapped from Africa as a child, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned their freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship...
The Illegal
Hill, Lawrence
Paper Book
Lawrence Hill spellbound readers with Someone Knows My Name (made into the television mini-series, The Book of Negroes), hailed as "transporting" (Entertainment Weekly) and "completely engrossing" (Washington Post). The Illegal is the gripping story of Keita Ali, a refugee--like the many in today...
The autobiography of Chester Himes
Himes, Chester B.
Paper Book
Black looks : race and representation
hooks, bell
Paper Book
In these twelve essays, bell hooks digs ever deeper into the personal and political consequences of contemporary representations of race and ethnicity within a white supremacist culture.
Salvation : Black people and love
hooks, bell
Paper Book
"A manual for fixing our culture...In writing that is elegant and penetratingly simple, [hooks] gives voice to some things we may know in our hearts but need an interpreter like her to process."--Black Issues Book Review New York Times bestselling author, acclaimed visionary...
We real cool : Black men and masculinity
hooks, bell
Paper Book
"When women get together and talk about men, the news is almost always bad news," writes bell hooks. "If the topic gets specific and the focus is on black men, the news is even worse." In this powerful new book, bell hooks arrests our attention from the first page. Her title--We Real...
Chocolate cities : the Black map of American life
Hunter, Marcus Anthony
Paper Book
From Central District Seattle to Harlem to Holly Springs, Black people have built a dynamic network of cities and towns where Black culture is maintained, created, and defended. But imagine--what if current maps of Black life are wrong? Chocolate Cities offers a refreshing and...
Dancing spirit : an autobiography
Jamison, Judith.
Paper Book
Judith Jamison is, in every sense, a towering  figure. Her commanding physical presence and  extraordinary technique have made her not only a  superstar of American dance and an innovator in her field,  but also an inspiration to African Americans, to  women, and to people of all origins around the ...
Stamped from the beginning : the definitive history of racist ideas in America
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book
A National Book Award winner The New York Times bestselling history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society. "An engrossing and relentless intellectual history of prejudice in America." -...
The deserter's tale : the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq
Key, Joshua.
Paper Book
In the first ever memoir from a young soldier who deserted from the war in Iraq, Joshua Key offers a vivid and damning indictment of what we are doing there and how the war itself is being waged. Key, a young husband and father from a conservative background, enlisted in the Army in 2002 to get...
Beloved : a novel
Morrison, Toni.
Paper Book
Toni Morrison--author of Song of Solomon and Tar Baby--is a writer of remarkable powers: her novels, brilliantly acclaimed for their passion, their dazzling language and their lyric and emotional force, combine the unassailable truths of experience and emotion with the vision of legend...
The secret lives of church ladies
Philyaw, Deesha
Paper Book
*FINALIST for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction* *WINNER of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award* *WINNER of the 2020 Story Prize* *WINNER of the 2020 L.A. Times Book Prize, Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction* ...
(H)afrocentric. Volumes 1-4
Reynolds, Juliana Smith
Paper Book
(H)afrocentric tackles racism, the patriarchy, and popular culture head-on. Unapologetic and unabashed, (H)afrocentric introduces us to strong yet vulnerable students of colour, as well as an aesthetic that connects current Black pop culture to an organic re-appropriation of hip hop fashion circa...
Aunt Harriet's underground railroad in the sky
Ringgold, Faith.
Paper Book
Illus. in full color. Cassie, who flew above New York in Tar Beach, soars into the sky once more. This time, she and her brother Be Be meet a train full of people, and Be Be joins them. But the train departs before Cassie can climb aboard. With Harriet Tubman as her guide, Cassie retraces the steps...
Black noise : rap music and black culture in contemporary America
Rose, Tricia.
Paper Book
A comprehensive look at the lyrics, music, cultures, themes, and styles of rap music. Winner of the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation (1995) From its beginnings in hip hop culture, the dense rhythms and aggressive lyrics of rap music...
The kid
Sapphire
Paper Book
Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire gives voice to Precious's son, Abdul. In The Kid bestselling author Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Push's unforgettable heroine, Precious...
Jimi Hendrix, electric gypsy
Shapiro, Harry
Paper Book
September 18, 1995, marks the 25th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's untimely demise. To commemorate this event, the authors have revised and updated over 200 pages of Electric Gypsy, the record of Hendrix's legacy as the music world's most talented guitarist.
Real life
Taylor, Brandon
Paper Book
Almost everything about Wallace, an introverted African-American transplant from Alabama, is at odds with the lakeside Midwestern university town where he is studying for a biochem degree. For reasons of self-preservation, he has kept a distance even from his own friends - some dating each other,...
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black liberation
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta
Paper Book
Winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize for an Especially Notable Book "Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's searching examination of the social, political and economic dimensions of the prevailing racial order offers important context for understanding the necessity of the...
Contact high : a visual history of hip-hop
Tobak, Vikki
Paper Book
ONE OF AMAZON'S BEST ART & PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS 0F 2018 AN NPR AND PITCHFORK BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2018 PICK ONE OF TIME'S 25 BEST PHOTOBOOKS OF 2018 NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS,WALLSTREET JOURNAL, ROLLING STONE,AND...
Kehinde Wiley : a new republic
Tsai, Eugenie
Paper Book
Filled with reproductions of Kehinde Wiley's bold, colorful, and monumental work, this book encompasses the artist's various series of paintings as well as his sculptural work--which boldly explore ideas about race, power, and tradition. Celebrated for his classically styled paintings that depict...
Piecing me together
Watson, Renée
Paper Book
Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner New York Times bestseller "Timely and timeless." -Jacqueline Woodson "Important and deeply moving." -John Green Bestselling and Newbery Medal winning author Renée Watson offers a...
The nickel boys : a novel
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * This follow-up to The Underground Railroad brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. * "One of the most gifted novelists in...
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...

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