February is Black History Month, but that doesn’t mean you have to celebrate with a nonfiction book! We hope to help everyone find books they’ll love. That’s why, below, we have an annotated list of both fiction and nonfiction titles with links to the catalog for your reading enjoyment. Interested in reading more? Check out our display in the library on your next visit!
Fiction
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora
Moving back and forth in time, this novel explores the intimate bonds and transgressions among people and across racial divides, during both slavery and freedom time.
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A young man, born into bondage, is enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, while trying to master his magical gift.
Africaville by Jeffrey Colvin
Set in a small Nova Scotia town settled by former slaves, this novel depicts several generations of one family bound together and torn apart by blood, faith, time, and fate.
The Conductors (Murder and Magic #1) by Nicole Glover
Whether it’s a strange death or magical curses causing trouble, Hetty and Benjy are the only ones in Philadelphia that can solve the case. But when an old friend is murdered, their investigation stirs up a wasp nest of intrigue, lies, and long-buried secrets.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Stretching from the tribal wars of Ghana to slavery and Civil War in America, from coal mines to 20th century Harlem, this novel captures the troubled spirit of our nation.
The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard
Johnny comes from a family with superpowers that are rather sad, but superpowers nonetheless–and he’s got one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss.
The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.
A debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
The Travelers by Regina Porter
An intimate family portrait and a sweeping exploration of what it means to be American today.
Nonfiction
The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah M. Broom
The story of a hundred years of a family and their relationship to home in a neglected area of one of America’s most mythologized cities, New Orleans.
The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
A powerful new history of the Black church in America as the Black community’s abiding rock and its fortress.
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
The essential, sweeping story of Juneteenth’s integral importance to American history, as told by a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Texas native.
Conversations In Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership by Ed Gordon
Gordon brings together some of the most prominent voices in Black America today to answer questions about vital topics affecting our nation today.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones
This collection of essays and historical vignettes places the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the center of the American story, asserting that only by reckoning with this difficult history and trying to understand its influence on the present, can we prepare ourselves for a more just future.
Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones
This sweeping history recounts how African American women fought for, won, and used the right to vote, from 1830s Boston to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and beyond.
Say It Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete by Roxanne Jones
A lavishly photographed tribute to the accomplishments of athletes who risked their well-being to promote social and legal changes.
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
A “choral history” of African Americans, covering 400 years of history, written by 80 black writers–historians and artists, journalists and novelists.
Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America by Gregory Pardlo
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, a deeply felt memoir of a family’s bonds and a meditation on race, addiction, fatherhood, ambition, and American culture.
Breathe: A Letter to My Sons by Imani Perry
Explores the terror, grace, and beauty of coming of age as a Black person in contemporary America and what it means to parent our children in a persistently unjust world.
Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner
This memoir about three friends chronicles the dramatic turns that send their lives careening in very different — and shocking — directions over the decades.
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty
A memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces the paths of the author’s ancestors, both black and white, through the crucible of slavery to show its effects on our food today.
Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy by Gayle Jessup White
A black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings offers a compelling portrait to ensure the United States lives up to the ideals advocated by her legendary ancestor.
The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story of African Americans and Politics During the Age of Roosevelt by Jill Watts
In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the presidency with the help of key African American defectors from the Republican Party. This is their story.
