Celebrating Black History Month Through BooksLike this list

25 items

• The Georgia of the North

  Black Women and the Civil Rights Movement in New Jersey

  Williams, Hettie V.,

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  The author presents a historical narrative about Black women and the long civil rights movement in New Jersey from the Great Migration to 1954. How and why did New Jersey’s Black leaders, community members, and women in particular, affect major…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape

  Deep Roots, Continuing Legacy

  Cohen, Amy Jane, 1964-

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  Black Philadelphians have shaped Philadelphia history since colonial times. The author recounts notable aspects of the Black experience in Philadelphia from the late 1600s to the 1960s and how this history is marked in the contemporary city.

• We Refuse

  a Forceful History of Black Resistance

  Jackson, Kellie Carter,

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  This book is an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women. Clear-eyed, impassioned, and ultimately hopeful, it offers a fundamental corrective to the historical…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Pathway to American Renewal

  Red, White, and Black Volume II

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  A celebration of resilience, this is the inspiring story of how Black America survived unimaginable odds and an examination of the real challenges it faces today. This challenging and inspiring collection of essays constructively frames the story…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Blackbirds Singing

  Inspiring Black Women's Speeches From the Civil War to the Twenty-first Century

  Bell, Janet Dewart,

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  With an expansive historical lens, this book celebrates the tradition of Black women’s political speech and labor, allowing the voices and powerful visions of African American women to speak across generations building power for the world.

• New Prize for These Eyes

  the Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement

  Williams, Juan,

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  In this highly anticipated follow-up to Eyes on the Prize, bestselling author Williams turns his attention to the rise of a new 21st-century civil rights movement, brilliantly tracing the arc of this new civil rights era, from Obama to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Combee

  Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War

  Fields-Black, Edda L.,

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  Based on original documents and written by a descendant of one of the participants, this is the story of the Combahee River Raid, a daring attack on the major plantations making up the breadbasket of the Confederacy and one of Harriet Tubman's most…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Nat Turner, Black Prophet

  a Visionary History

  Kaye, Anthony E.,

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  An enslaved preacher, Nat Turner was as enigmatic as he was brilliant. He was also something more – a prophet, one who claimed to have received visions from the Spirit urging him to act. This is the fullest recounting to date of Turner’s uprising,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Medgar & Myrlie

  Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America

  Reid, Joy-Ann Lomena,

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  This triumphant work of biography repositions slain Civil Rights pioneer Medgar Evers at the heart of America's struggle for freedom, and celebrates Myrlie Evers's extraordinary activism after her husband's assassination in the driveway of their…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• John Lewis

  a Life

  Greenberg, David, 1968-

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  This comprehensive, authoritative biography of Civil Rights icon John Lewis, “the conscience of the Congress,” draws on interviews with Lewis and approximately 275 others who knew him at various stages of his life, as well as never-before-used FBI…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Black Utopians

  Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America

  Robertson, Aaron, 1994-

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  This is a lyrical meditation on how Black Americans have envisioned utopia – and sought to transform their lives.

• HBCU Made

  a Celebration of the Black College Experience

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  This first book featuring famous alumni sharing personal accounts of the Black college experience offers a series of warm, moving, and candid personal essays about the schools that nurtured and educated them.

• Legacy

  a Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine

  Blackstock, Uche,

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  This is the rousing, captivating story of a Black physician, her career in medicine, and the deep inequities that still exist in the U.S. healthcare system.

• The Swans of Harlem

  Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History

  Valby, Karen,

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  This is a riveting account of five extraordinarily accomplished women, a celebration of both their historic careers and the sustaining, grounding power of female friendship, and a window into the robust history of Black ballet, hidden for too long.

• Black in Blues

  How a Color Tells the Story of My People

  Perry, Imani, 1972-

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  This is a surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue – and its fascinating role in Black history and culture -- from National Book Award winner Perry.

• The Black Box

  Writing the Race

  Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.,

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  This is a magnificent, foundational reckoning with how Black Americans have used the written word to define and redefine themselves, in resistance to the lies of racism and often in heated disagreement with one another, over the course of the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Message

  Coates, Ta-Nehisi,

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  The author originally set out to write a book about writing, but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories – our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking – expose and distort our realities.

• Survival Is a Promise

  the Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

  Gumbs, Alexis Pauline, 1982-

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  The author explores the full depths of Lorde’s manuscript archives, illuminating the eternal life of Lorde so that her life and work become more than a sound bite; they become a cosmic force, teaching us the grand contingency of life together on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Rebel's Clinic

  the Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon

  Shatz, Adam,

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  In the era of Black Lives Matter, Frantz Fanon’s shadow looms larger than ever. He was the intellectual activist of the postcolonial era, and his writings about race, revolution, and the psychology of power continue to shape radical movements…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Grift

  the Downward Spiral of Black Republicans From the Party of Lincoln to the Cult of Trump

  Cane, Clay,

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  Part history and part cultural analysis, this book chronicles the nuanced history of Black Republicans. The author lays out how Black Republicanism has been mangled by opportunists who are apologists for racism.