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Must-read books by Black authors
Memoirs, novels, and commentaries on justice, equality, and Black history.
Published on February 5, 2024
Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem
bell hooksSince the 2018 reprint of “All About Love” and her passing in late 2021, bell hooks’ ideas have made a comeback, gaining praise and commercial success. Her books uniquely blend thought-provoking theories with emotionally stirring narratives that eloquently address oppression. In “Rock My Soul,” the author delves into self-esteem’s significance within external power structures and the impact of internalized shame among Black Americans. Above all, she reminds readers that it’s never too late to heal.
Maame: A Today Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick
Jessica GeorgeMaddie, the dependable one in her British Ghanaian family, finally chooses to prioritize herself and build the life she deserves. George’s novel, called a “pitch-perfect debut” by Publishers Weekly, is a coming-of-age journey featuring a vulnerable protagonist readers can simultaneously identify with and root for. “Maame” includes themes of systemic racism, family obligations, and self-empowerment.
Queenie
Candice Carty-Williams“Bridget Jones” meets “Americanah”: Carty-Williams’ book is about a young woman facing the uncertainty of her mid-20s, a breakup from her white boyfriend, and the stress of comparing herself to her white, middle-class peers at the newspaper where she works. Straddling her two cultures — Jamaican and British — and exploring what it means to be a modern woman in today’s world is no easy task; “Queenie” tackles it with clever, charming prose and humor.
The Other Black Girl: A Novel
Zakiya Dalila HarrisNella’s excited when another Black woman joins the very white publishing house where she works: she’s no longer the only Black employee! Her delight takes a turn for the sinister when threatening anonymous notes start showing up on her desk. Is her new coworker an ally or an enemy? A twisty and timely, funny and creepy thriller with hints of “Get Out.” Zakiya Dalila Harris and Rashida Jones adapted the book for a series on Hulu in 2023.
Let Us Descend: A Novel
Jesmyn WardDrawing on Dante’s “Inferno” and America’s sordid history, one of the greatest writers of our generation delivers the gut-wrenching story of an enslaved girl with a powerful ancestry. As Annis makes the grueling journey between plantations by way of New Orleans’ slave markets, she relies on lessons passed down from her mother — teachings that connect her with nature, protective spirits, and herself. Ward (“Sing, Unburied, Sing”) astounds yet again.
Ordinary Notes
Christina SharpeIn a kaleidoscopic blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and analysis, Sharpe (“In the Wake”) paints a vivid picture of Blackness in America. Her notes reflect on personal and historical moments alike, allowing readers to see how collective experiences inform individual lives. “Ordinary Notes” is as vulnerable as it is incisive.
The House of Eve
Sadeqa JohnsonTwo young Black women in 1950s America fight to keep their dreams afloat in the face of unexpected circumstances. In Philadelphia, Ruby Pearsall longs to attend college, while Eleanor Quarles, a Howard University student, is set to be the first graduate in her family. Both of their lives are upended after finding love. Johnson’s (“Yellow Wife”) powerful historical fiction revisits a time when women, particularly those of color, grappled with limited choices and seemingly predetermined futures.
The Reformatory: A Novel
Tananarive DueIn this supernatural horror novel set in Jim Crow-era Florida, Robbie, a young Black boy, is unjustly sent to a cruel reformatory school. Haunted by ghosts of the past and a sadistic warden, Robbie’s forced to make a chilling choice between self-preservation and justice — for the living and the dead. Based on the real-life horrors of the Dozier School for Boys (where the author’s great-uncle died as a teenager), this story delves into humanity’s capacity for evil.
Yonder: A Novel
Jabari Asim“Yonder” reveals storytelling’s power to offer hope. A tale of survival and resilience in the face of brutality, Asim’s novel explores the lives of four enslaved people in the antebellum South, from their resilience in the face of brutality to their daring escape and flight for freedom. Imbued with magical realism and tender portrayals of the characters’ rich inner lives, it’s no wonder both The New York Times and The Washington Post named “Yonder” a best book of 2022.
Kindred
Octavia E. ButlerYou can’t go wrong with anything by the Queen of Afrofuturism, but a good place to start is “Kindred,” one of many treasures from the godmother of science fiction. A young Black woman travels back and forth in time between 1970s California and a pre-Civil War plantation in a story that’s foundational for feminist, sci-fi/fantasy, and Afrofuturism works. The FX series adapted from Butler’s “Kindred” is now streaming on Hulu.
If I Survive You
Jonathan EscofferyEscoffery, an award-winning writer and fellow at Stanford University, offers a linked story collection about a Jamaican American family struggling to overcome racism, poverty, and natural disaster — not exactly the lauded American Dream. Trelawney, the youngest son, is the most prominent character, and we see much of his family’s search for identity and belonging through his eyes. Escoffery draws readers into the rich vibes of 1970s Miami in this story of the immigrant experience.
Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel
Zora Neale HurstonThis powerful, beloved classic earned a passionate following (as well as intense reactions for its sexuality). An anthropologist, Hurston beautifully illuminates dialect in a moving tale rooted in the people and histories of the South. If you didn’t read this staple of African American literature in school, you really should now. (And if you did, it might be time to re-read it.)
Friday Black
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah“Friday Black” is a searing debut short story collection that delivers on style and substance. It skillfully weaves together elements of satire and magical realism with today’s most pressing, politically charged issues to create otherworldly tales that are haunting and achingly relevant. “Friday Black” was lauded as the breakout of 2018 by beloved literary giants like Roxane Gay, George Saunders, and Tommy Orange.
An American Marriage: A Novel
Jones, TayariCelebrated by traditional critics and some high-profile ad-hoc reviewers (Barack Obama and Oprah), this stirring story is at once an examination of race and the criminal justice system and a deeply intimate portrait of two people struggling to keep their love alive as external circumstances drive them apart.
Heads of the Colored People: Stories
Nafissa Thompson-SpiresThis short story collection racked up accolades left and right. As a winner at the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes awards ceremony in 2019, Thompson-Spires said, “I wrote this book because I felt like as a kid, and even as a grad student, I didn’t see books that reflected the kind of black person I was. … I wanted to write about weird black people.” Wit abounds in these stories that explore Black identity, culture, struggle, and triumph — all featuring quirky characters, of course.
Concrete Rose: A Printz Honor Winner
Angie ThomasA Printz Honor Book, Thomas’ prequel to “The Hate U Give” follows our favorite character from the original novel: Maverick Carter, Starr’s father. At 17, Maverick is still navigating his way through the expectations of manhood, of his father’s legacy as a gangster, and of young parenthood. This is the origin story we’ve all been waiting for, made all the more spellbinding by narrator Dion Graham’s (“The Wire”) powerful voice.
Black Enough
Ibi ZoboiThis collection of captivating stories speaks of friendship, sibling relationships, unrequited love, and the constant challenges of being young and Black. If some of the genre’s best authors (including Justina Ireland and Nic Stone) and editor Zoboi (a National Book Award finalist) aren’t enough, dive into this audiobook to hear Bahni Turpin’s signature talent for bringing diverse voices to life.
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
Imani PerryPerry was born in Alabama, and while she’s spent much of her time in the North (she’s a professor of African American studies at Princeton and attended Harvard and Yale), her roots are in the Deep South, which she argues is the heart of the nation. Combining an insightful personal travelog with a sociological study of the South’s complicated relationship with race, “South to America” won the 2022 National Book Award for nonfiction.
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
Anna Malaika TubbsAlberta King. Berdis Baldwin. Louise Little. These are the mothers who shaped the lives of America’s most iconic civil rights heroes. By passing their conviction of the inherent worth of Black people on to their sons, these women proved pivotal in the nation’s fight for equal rights. “The Three Mothers” is a celebration of Black women and a testament to the power of a mother’s love.
You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
Zora Neale HurstonCapturing more than three decades of work by the acclaimed novelist, Hurston’s newest release, written during the Harlem Renaissance, shares commentary on the Black experience that’s as timely as ever. This highly anticipated collection of culturally critical essays (including a few that have never before been published) will delight her fans, and create new ones.
Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language
Roxane GayTrauma is a common thread for so many, from personal experience to the collective trauma of racism, climate change, and a global pandemic. Gay’s personal trauma has shaped her life and work, including her 2017 memoir about her own sexual assault, “Hunger.” In “Writing into the Wound,” Gay unpacks the aftermath of “Hunger,” exploring the public reaction that reopened her wounds once more. The result is a skillful guide to sharing, processing, and healing from trauma through writing. “To change the world, we need to face what has become of it,” she writes. “To heal from a trauma, we need to understand the extent of it.”
Just as I Am: A Memoir
Cicely TysonDuring her 96 years on this earth, entertainer, activist, and humanitarian Tyson co-created the Dance Theater of Harlem, launched an award-winning career on stage and screen, married jazz legend Miles Davis, and won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. These are just a few of the true stories she shares in this inspiring memoir, narrated by Viola Davis, Robin Miles, and Tyson herself. Her influence on the way Black characters are portrayed in Hollywood set the stage for generations to come.
She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman
Erica Armstrong DunbarThis book humanizes abolitionist icon Harriet Tubman while reminding the reader that her accomplishments bordered on superhuman. Born a slave, Tubman spent years in the kitchens and fields of white owners before she experienced a traumatic head injury that ushered in a spiritual awakening and led to her astounding work as an abolitionist, including her time as a spy for the Union army.
Manifesto: On Never Giving Up
Bernardine EvaristoDespite her enormous success as a writer, Evaristo once had tremendous difficulty believing in herself. In her entertaining and instructional memoir, the Booker Prize-winning author shares honest observations about how growing up as a working-class Black woman in the UK affected her self-esteem. Half memoir, half manual, Evaristo’s life story is a testament to the power of building a creative community.
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X
Les PayneThe late and renowned journalist Payne compiled hundreds of hours of interviews in researching this biography, all with people who knew Malcolm X personally and profoundly. It aims to paint a more accurate portrait of the civil rights activist, from his birth in Nebraska to his assassination in Harlem. “The Dead are Arising,” completed after Payne’s death by his daughter Tamara Payne, won the National Book Award in 2020 and a Pulitzer Prize for Biographies in 2021.
Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature
Farah Jasmine GriffinGriffin, professor at Columbia University and a Guggenheim fellow, unites personal memoir with a fascinating study of Black literature and art. Through her own experiences and the words of brilliant Black creators throughout history, Griffin challenges us to reexamine our role in justice, mercy, and the humanization of all.
By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners
Margaret A. BurnhamBurnham’s eye-opening history reveals how the legal system perpetuated slavery’s legacy of brutal racial control long after being abolished. Focusing on Jim Crow from 1920–1960 and extensively researched, “By Hands Now Known” documents how racially motivated violence against Black Americans — and a complicit legal system — reinforced white supremacy as de facto law of the land. Burnham also explores the early days of the civil rights movement and its deep roots in a long history of Black Americans’ “practices of dissent and resistance.” Critics call this book “remarkable,” “searing,” and “indispensable.”
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Isabel WilkersonPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wilkerson shares the overlooked story of the Great Migration, when millions of African Americans uprooted their lives to move from the South to cities in the North, the Midwest, and out West from 1915–1970. By tracing the journeys of three people, Wilkerson makes the sweeping history accessible and riveting. President Barack Obama included “The Warmth of Other Suns” on his 2019 reading list for Black History Month.
Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
R.J. YoungIn the aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the white mob who destroyed the Black neighborhood of Greenwood and killed hundreds of its citizens faced no repercussions. It took 30 years for the massacre to even be acknowledged on a national level. To this day, no real accountability has been taken and no reparations have been made to Black Tulsans. Young, a Tulsa native, illuminates history with modern context and the effects of intergenerational trauma. “Requiem for the Massacre” is a historical account, a cultural criticism, and a memoir of Blackness all at once.
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America
Candacy TaylorIn a time when traveling through a segregated America was a dangerous proposition for Black people, the “Green Book” (in operation from the 1930s to the 1960s) listed the hotels, restaurants, and shops they could safely visit. “Overground Railroad” tells the stories of the business owners who bravely stood up against segregation by listing themselves in the “Green Book.” It’s also an examination of just how far we have left to go.
Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir
Rebecca CarrollFrom her narcissistic (and racist) white birth mother to her clueless adoptive family (also white), Carroll’s childhood is shaped by people utterly disinterested in fostering her racial identity. This moving memoir details her coming of age as a Black girl surrounded by white faces and white aggressions, and her eventual discovery of belonging.
Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture
Zeba BlayThis collection of essays by Blay (creator of the titular viral hashtag #carefreeblackgirls) is an intelligent examination of the negative portrayal of Black women in art, music, film, the media, and more. Learn how Black women influence the same pop culture that often vilifies and stereotypes them. “Carefree Black Girls” is positive and insightful despite its indictments on our culture and the entertainment industry.
Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions
Francesca T. RoysterRoyster centers the Black experience in country music, which has been overlooked for far too long. This rich history chronicles the Black musicians who created the genre and continue to shape it today, along with the Black fans who’ve loved the music every step along the way. From Tina Turner (whose first solo album was “Tina Turns the Country On!” in 1974) to Valerie June, this eye-opening account will have you listening to, and appreciating, country music at a deeper level.
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
Annette Gordon-ReedOne of the most compelling overviews of the founding of slavery in America is revealed through the history of the Hemings family, who were owned by Thomas Jefferson. “The Hemingses of Monticello” shines a bright light on a little-known history, and its publication continued to break down barriers as author Gordon-Reed became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in History.
The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner)
Sarah M. BroomBroom’s breathtaking memoir made countless best-books-of-the-year lists in 2019, including President Obama’s and “The New York Times”’ top 10. Broom tells the story of her family through the framework of their beloved yellow house in a little-known New Orleans neighborhood. In evocative prose, she chronicles how her family rides out Hurricane Katrina — and generations of social injustices.
Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots
Morgan JerkinsNamed one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for 2021, Jenkins’ eye-opening memoir takes readers along on her stirring journey to unearth her roots. She retraces her family’s path north during the Great Migration in a narrative that’s both an intimate autobiography and a powerful history of the displacement of Black people in America.
Black Joy
Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts“You hand us the fatback of a pig and we use it to make savory greens,” writes author Lewis-Giggetts. “You hand us a fledgling radio station and we turn it into a media empire. … We are alchemists.” Beautiful and heartbreaking, you’ll reach for this comforting collection of essays on how Black joy is a tool of resilience when times feel tough.
The Ivy League Counterfeiter
ToureAfter Cliff Evans finished Columbia University, he started making his own money. By using a copy machine. Touré, the author, was one of Cliffʼs friends. This book explores how — and, more crucially, why — Cliff was working in the criminal underground even though everyone around him was telling him to stop.