Black History Month Books for Adults

Updated January 23, 2026
J
Johnson County Public Library
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A pair of wings : a novel
Hopson, Carole
Paper Book
An airline captain crafts a riveting, adventurous novel inspired by the remarkable true life of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who learned to fly at the dawn of aviation and found freedom in the air A few years after the Wright brothers' first flight, Bessie...
The swans of Harlem : five Black ballerinas, fifty years of sisterhood, and their reclamation of a groundbreaking history
Valby, Karen
Paper Book
The forgotten story of a pioneering group of five Black ballerinas whose legacy was erased from history--until now. At the height of the Civil Rights movement, Lydia Abarca was a Black prima ballerina with a major international dance company--the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was...
The vice president's Black wife : the untold life of Julia Chinn
Myers, Amrita Chakrabarti
Ebook
Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796-1833), the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson...

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