Black History Month is a time to recognize the people and events that have significantly impacted our culture. It’s a time to remember our journey, from slavery through Civil Rights to the Black Lives Matter Movement – even though it is the shortest month of the year.
As conservatives are on a mission to change the narrative, there’s no better time to read one of these incredible books about Black history.
In “The Black Church,” Henry Louis Gates explores the Black community’s relationship with Christianity, from the transatlantic slave trade to the present day. As Gates breaks down over 500 years of history, including reflections on his own relationship with the church, readers are left with a greater understanding of how Christianity has impacted everything from our music to our politics.
In “Four Hundred Souls” editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain have curated the works of 90 writers who explore a specific five year period of time between 1619 and 2019. Each writer’s unique approach to storytelling comes together beautifully in a comprehensive recount of the struggle and the hope of the Black experience in this country.
One of the greatest moments in Black history was the election of the first Black President of the United States. “A Promised Land” is the first volume of Barack Obama’s presidential memoirs. The book follows his road to the White House, from his earliest days in the political game to his historic election on November 4, 2008. Readers are given a peek inside the Oval Office, as Obama recounts some of the challenges of representing America on the world stage while navigating the partisan politics that often handicapped him at home.
“Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History” tells the stories of 40 Black women who have made amazing contributions to our country, including Bessie Coleman, Shirley Chisholm and Maya Angelou for little readers ages 4 and up.
“The 1619 Project” is a frequent target of book bans and challenges around the country. But Nikole Hannah-Jones’ bestselling book should be required reading on your Black History Month reading list. The book beautifully weaves together essays, poems and works of fiction that examine the impact of slavery on every aspect of today’s America.
Carter G. Woodson is known as “the father of Black history,” so it’s only right that his book be on a Black History Month reading list. In “The Mis Education of the Negro,” Woodson points out inequalities in education as one of the key obstacles to progress towards racial equality. Woodson stresses the importance of Blacks being educated and self-sufficient to put themselves on the path to progress.
“Barracoon” is Zora Neale Hurston’s 1927 interview with 86-year-old Cudjo Lewis. In the book, Lewis shares his first-person account of the raid that led to his capture from Africa, his harrowing journey to America and the life he spent as a slave until slavery was abolished in the United States. Hurston tells Lewis’ story in a way only she can, and gives readers a unique insight into the horrors of slavery.
In “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson tells the story of the Great Migration, and brilliantly explains why millions of Black Americans left the South between 1915 and 1970 to escape Jim Crow with the hopes of finding opportunity and freedom.
“Brown Girl Dreaming” is Jacqueline Woodson’s National Book Award and Newbery Honor-winning memoir. The book tells the story of Woodson’s childhood, growing up Black in South Carolina and New York the 1960s and 70s through a series of emotional poems. Geared towards young readers ages 9 and up, it is a touching account of Woodson’s self-discovery during a critical time in Black history.
In “How the Word is Passed,” Clint Smith visits several historical sites, including a former plantation-turned-maximum-security prison in Louisiana to examine the legacy of slavery in this country.
“March” is a series of graphic novels from Congressman John Lewis, a key figure of the Civil Rights Movement and co-writer Andrew Aydin. In each book, Lewis shares stories of his lifelong fight for racial equality with young readers from his childhood in Alabama to his election to Congress and eventually receiving the Medal of Freedom from the country’s first Black president.
First published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974, “An Autobiography” is Angela Davis’ powerful story of her early years in struggle. From her childhood in Birmingham, Alabama to her work with the Black Panther Party, her role on the faculty of USA’s Philosophy Department to finding a place on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, readers get to know one of the most important political activists of our time.
“The Fire Next Time” was an instant bestseller when it was published in 1963. It gives readers a glimpse of the consequences of racial inequality through the lens of James Baldwin’s account of his early life in Harlem. He writes, “Color is not a human or a personal reality; it is a political reality.” It’s almost impossible not to be moved by Baldwin’s reflections on the need for justice.
It’s never too early to learn about Black history. And “The ABCs of Black History” is the perfect way to introduce our stories to young readers ages 2 and up. The book goes letter by letter, highlighting important figures and events along the way, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Mae Jemison and Malcolm X.
Named one of Time’s Ten Most Important Nonfiction Books of the Twentieth Century, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” is the life story of the activist and religious leader. Originally published eight months after his assassination, the book recounts the story of Malcolm X’s journey from childhood to prison to eventually becoming one of the most outspoken advocates of Black empowerment.
