25 must read books for Black History Month

If you're looking for new reads for Black History Month, we've got you covered.

News 12 Staff

Feb 1, 2023, 9:30 AM

Updated 613 days ago

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25 must read books for Black History Month
If you're looking for new reads for Black History Month, we've got you covered.
The books below will expand your Black literary experience:
Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author's vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde's work is cyclical.
In her profound and courageous New York Times bestseller, Janet Mock establishes herself as a resounding and inspirational voice for the transgender community — and anyone fighting to define themselves on their own terms.
A stunning novel on love, identity, loss, and redemption.
With breathtaking scope, Homegoing follows the parallel paths of two sisters and their descendants through eight generations.
Written from Cuba, where she currently has asylum, Shakur explores her journey to becoming revolutionary. Shakur discusses many events in her life, focusing on the aftermath of the notorious New Jersey State Turnpike shooting, which led to Shakur being convicted and imprisoned due to the murder of a police officer (although she later escaped and fled to Cuba).
Brit Bennett's debut is a beautifully told story about deep love and friendship and unintended consequences.
Bassey Ikpi explores her life — as a Nigerian-American immigrant, a Black woman, a slam poet, a mother, a daughter, an artist — through the lens of her mental health and diagnosis of bipolar II and anxiety.
Winner of the Newbery Medal, this remarkably moving novel has impressed the hearts and minds of millions of readers.
Published in 1982, But Some of Us Are Brave was the first-ever Black women's studies reader and a foundational text of contemporary feminism.
In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander argues that mass incarceration is the single most pressing civil rights issue of the 21st century
In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.
The story follows Jojo, a young multiracial boy growing up primarily with his grandparents due to his mother's addiction problems and his father's jail sentence.
Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is 11 when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria.
From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays exploring what it means to be Black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America.
At the age of 12, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished Haitian village to New York to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers.
Haunted and haunting, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir about a young, Black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears.
This powerful, intensely dramatic book is the definitive account of the Haitian Revolution of 1794-1803.
Ida B. Wells was a hero — and one of the first and most successful investigative and data journalists.
A major influence on civil rights, anti-colonial, and Black consciousness movements around the world, Black Skin, White Masks is the unsurpassed study of the Black psyche in a white world.
Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who meet as children in the small town of Medallion, Ohio.
James Baldwin explored issues of race and racism in America, class distinction, and sexual difference.
Set in Brooklyn during the Depression and World War II, Brown Girl, Brownstones is the enduring story of a most extraordinary young woman.
The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble.
In the city of Houston - a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America - the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age.
Source: Shondaland