Juneteenth, held on June 19th, is the oldest national celebration of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. Commemorate this important day in history with books, audiobooks, and e-books that reflect on the experiences, struggles, and joys of African Americans.
Nonfiction
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
The 1619 Project : a new origin story / edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman, and Jake Silverstein.
How the word is passed : a reckoning with the history of slavery across America by Clint Smith
They were her property white women as slave owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
We were eight years in power : an American tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The new Jim Crow mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Stony the road : Reconstruction, white supremacy, and the rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates
The purpose of power : how we come together when we fall apart by Alicia Garza
A little devil in America : notes in praise of Black performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
Four hundred souls : a community history of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
Fiction
The underground railroad : a novel by Colson Whitehead
Homegoing : a novel by Yaa Gyasi
Hell of a book : or the altogether factual, Wholly Bona Fide story of a big dreams, hard luck, American-Made Mad Kid by Jason Mott
Conjure women : a novel by Afia Atakora
Roots : the saga of an American family by Alex Haley ; with a special introduction by Michael Eric Dyson and Alex Haley
Poetry
Citizen : an American lyric by Claudia Rankine
The Breakbeat poets : new American poetry in the age of hip-hop by Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, & Nate Marshall, editors.
The collected works of Phillis Wheatley edited with an essay by John C. Shields
Such color : new and selected poems by Tracy K. Smith
I am the rage : A black poetry collection by Martina McGowan
Other people’s comfort keeps me up at night : poems by Morgan Parker
Call us what we carry : poems by Amanda Gorman
Brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Children’s
What is Juneteenth? by Kirsti Jewel
