Black Voices & Culture: Non-Fiction Books for Adults

Explore our curated list of non-fiction books by Black and African American voices in celebration of Black History Month.

Updated December 23, 2025
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Black-owned : the revolutionary life of the Black bookstore
Adams, Char
Paper Book
**A November LibraryReads Pick** Longtime NBC News reporter Char Adams writes a deeply compelling and rigorously reported history of Black political movements told through the lens of Black-owned bookstores, which have been centers for organizing from abolition to the Civil Rights...
My black country : a journey through country music's black past, present, and future
Randall, Alice
Paper Book
Alice Randall, award-winning professor, songwriter, and author presents "a celebration of all things country music" (Ken Burns) as she reflects on her search for the first family of Black country music. Country music had brought Alice Randall and her activist mother together and...
Fearless and free : a memoir
Baker, Josephine
Paper Book
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: The TODAY Show, Vanity Fair, Financial Times, W Magazine, Oprah Daily, LibraryReads Praised as "funny and witty" by Kwame Alexander on the TODAY show, now published in the US for the first time, Fearless and Free is the...
Yet here I am : lessons from a Black man's search for home
Capehart, Jonathan
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Pulitzer Prize winning writer, editor and TV host Jonathan Capehart recounts powerful stories from his life about embracing identity, picking battles, seizing opportunity and finding his voice. ...
Positive obsession : the life and times of Octavia E. Butler
Morris, Susana M.
Paper Book
A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work.  As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia...
The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir
Wood, Roy
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . From comedian, Emmy-nominated writer and producer, and former Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr., an unforgettable, laugh-out-loud funny memoir revealing that sometimes the best advice comes from the most surprising teachers "Honest, raw, and an...
Baldwin : a love story
Boggs, Nicholas
Paper Book
AN ATLANTIC TOP 10 BOOK OF 2025 A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2025 Drawing on new archival material, original research, and...
The Black family who built America : the McKissacks, two centuries of daring pioneers
Daniel, Cheryl McKissack
Paper Book
A Scientific American Favorite Book of 2025 The riveting story of the McKissack family--the founders of the leading Black design and construction firm in the United States, from its beginnings in the mid-1800s to its thriving status today--in a moving celebration of...
Marsha : the joy and defiance of Marsha P. Johnson
Tourmaline
Paper Book
Black transgender luminary Tourmaline brings to life the first definitive biography of the revolutionary activist Marsha P. Johnson, one of the most important and remarkable figures in LGBTQIA+ history, revealing her story, her impact, and her legacy. "She is the preeminent...
107 days
Harris, Kamala
Paper Book
For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, former Vice President Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history. Your Secret Service code name is Pioneer. You are the first woman...
I'm that girl : living the power of my dreams
Chiles, Jordan
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller With a Foreword by Simone Biles The sensational two-time Olympian Jordan Chiles's heartfelt, inspiring memoir chronicling her unlikely path to the podium--including the unprecedented challenges, the joy of winning, the crushing pain of defeat,...
The afterlife of Malcolm X : an outcast turned icon's enduring impact on America
Whitaker, Mark
Paper Book
A New York Public Library and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2025 Published to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of his birth, the first major study of Malcolm X's influence in the sixty years since his assassination, exploring his enduring impact on culture,...

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