From the arts and culture, to history and music, these books help celebrate and honor Black History Month this February and every month beyond.
For further reading, browse our previous collections here and here.
Lift Every Voice: A Celebration of Black Lives Foreword by Oprah Winfrey; Introduction by Nikole Hannah-Jones; Edited by Hearst Magazines, Hearst Newspapers and Hearst Television
More than 50 elders share their remarkable experiences of being Black in America in a collection of powerful photographs and interviews.
For so long, too many stories that reveal what it means and feels like to be Black in America have been overlooked outside Black communities. After these long years of racial reckonings and nascent awakenings, Lift Every Voice presents interviews with the oldest generation of Black Americans about their lives, their experiences, and the wisdom that can carry all of us to a better future.
Available April 26, 2022 in Hardcover and eBook Editions
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The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story Edited by Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman and Jake Silverstein; Created by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine
#1 New York Times Bestseller • A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present.
“Powerful . . . This work asks readers to deeply consider who is allowed to shape the collective memory. Like the magazine version of the 1619 Project, this invaluable book sets itself apart by reframing readers’ understanding of U.S. history, past and present.”—Library Journal (starred review)
Available in Hardcover, eBook, Large Print, and Audiobook Editions
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Click for Information About The 1619 Project: Born on the Water.
Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality By Tomiko Brown-Nagin
The first major biography of one of our most influential but least known activist lawyers that provides an eye-opening account of the twin struggles for gender equality and civil rights in the 20th Century.
“Written by legal and Civil Rights historian Tomiko Brown-Nagin…this biography about [an] iconic female leader…is the perfect nonfiction addition to your bookshelf this year.”—The Appalachian, “Most Anticipated Books of 2022”
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook Editions
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The South: Jim Crow and its Afterlives By Adolph L. Reed, Jr.
A narrative account of Jim Crow as people experienced it.
“Adolph Reed Jr. is the towering radical theorist of American democracy of his generation! This powerful and needful book is a rare gem—a rich intervention in our present discourse in light of an unsettling reflection on the recent past!”— Cornel West, Union Theological and Princeton University
Available in Hardcover and eBook Editions
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Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure Text by Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux and Nora Fitzpatrick and Ileen Gallagher
This landmark volume tells the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat from the intimate perspective of his family, intertwining his artistic endeavors with his personal life, influences, and the times in which he lived, and features for the first time work from the Estate’s largely unseen and significant collection of paintings, drawings, sketches, and ephemera.
“Written by legal and Civil Rights historian Tomiko Brown-Nagin…this biography about [an] iconic female leader…is the perfect nonfiction addition to your bookshelf this year.”—The Appalachian, “Most Anticipated Books of 2022”
Available April 5, 2022 in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook Editions
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Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop By Danyel Smith
American pop music is arguably this country’s greatest cultural contribution to the world, and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the country’s founding. This is their surprising, heartbreaking, soaring story—from “one of the generation’s greatest, most insightful, most nuanced writers in pop culture” (Shea Serrano)
“This book is revelatory about the specific experiences of Black women in music.”—Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Available April 19, 2022 in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook Editions
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All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake By Tiya Miles
National Book Award Winner • A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft an extraordinary testament to people who are left out of the archives.
“Deeply layered and insightful . . . [a] bold reflection on American history, African American resilience, and the human capacity for love and perseverance in the face of soul-crushing madness.”—The Washington Post
“A history told with brilliance and tenderness and fearlessness.”—Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States
Available in Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook Editions
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A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance By Hanif Abdurraqib
National Book Award Finalist • A sweeping, genre-bending “masterpiece” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) exploring Black art, music, and culture in all their glory and complexity—from Soul Train, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Whitney Houston, and Beyoncé.
“Abdurraqib sees performance as a site of radical questioning, experimentation, and dream-making. This book is not a work of theory. It is sensual.”—Vulture
“Poignant . . . Abdurraqib has written an important book on the transformative power of . . . love.”—The New York Times
Available in Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook Editions
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Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Romance, Being Seen, and Happily Ever Afters By Jessica P. Pryde
An incisive, intersectional essay anthology that celebrates and examines romance and romantic media through the lens of Black readers, writers, and cultural commentators, edited by Book Riot columnist and librarian Jessica Pryde.
“The collection’s strength is in its thoughtfulness and wealth of perspectives. The result is as unique as it is heartfelt.”—Publishers Weekly
Available in Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook Editions
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Call Us What We Carry: Poems By Amanda Gorman
The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.
“Gorman doesn’t merely transcribe a diary of a plague year; her bold, oracular pronouncements bear witness to collective experience, with an uncanny confidence and a prescient tone that are all the poet’s own.” —New Yorker
Available in Hardcover, eBook, Large Print, and Audiobook Editions
