Black History Month is a time to honor the rich and complex history, achievements, and contributions of Black individuals throughout the world. One of the most powerful ways to educate yourself and engage with this history is through literature. Stories that educate, inspire, and amplify Black voices. From historical accounts that shed light on the past to contemporary works that reflect the ongoing struggle for justice, books play a crucial role in deepening our understanding of Black culture and resilience.
In this list, we highlight must-read books that celebrate Black history, uplift Black authors, and provide essential perspectives on race, identity and social justice. Whether you’re looking to expand your knowledge, challenge your worldview, or simply immerse yourself in compelling storytelling, these books will guide you through the richness and diversity of Black experiences.
6 Fiction & 6 Nonfiction
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
A brilliant take on love and ambition, failure and reinvention, and the racial-identity-industrial complex from the bestselling author of Caucasia.
Jane is convinced her luck is finally changing. After years of bouncing between questionable rentals and temporary sublets, she and her family have landed an incredible opportunity—house-sitting a luxurious home in the hills of Los Angeles for a year. Even better, the timing aligns perfectly with her sabbatical, giving her the space to finish her ambitious second novel, a sweeping historical epic her artist husband, Lenny, jokingly calls her “mulatto War and Peace.” For the first time in a while, stability and success feel within reach. But things don’t go as planned. With her writing prospects looking shaky, Jane, like so many writers before her, turns to Hollywood for a way forward. She manages to land a meeting with Hampton Ford, a high-powered producer eager to collaborate with a “real writer.” Together, they start developing what could be a groundbreaking biracial comedy — finally, a big break. But just when things seem to be falling into place, everything takes a disastrous turn.
Funny, piercing, and page-turning, Colored Television is Senna’s most on-the-pulse, ambitious, and rewarding novel yet.
Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
She found the literary voices that would inspire the world…. The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance, written by Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian.
In 1919, Jessie Redmon Fauset arrives in Harlem ready to make her mark as the first Black woman literary editor of The Crisis, a leading Negro magazine. Tasked with discovering young talent, she helps launch the careers of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Nella Larsen, shaping the Harlem Renaissance. But Jessie harbors a secret—she’s entangled in a passionate affair with her boss, W.E.B. Du Bois, despite their age gap and his marriage. As The Crisis thrives and her own novel gains acclaim, Jessie finds herself at the center of a cultural revolution. Yet, as she fights to secure her legacy, she must reckon with the personal sacrifices that come with success.
Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson
An exhilarating and expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship from National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and Costa First Novel Award-winning author Caleb Azumah Nelson.
Caleb Azumah Nelson, acclaimed for his debut Open Water, returns with Small Worlds, a lyrical and moving novel about love, family, and self-discovery. Spanning three summers, the story follows Stephen, a first-generation Londoner born to Ghanaian immigrants. Caught between expectations and his own dreams, he feels the pressure to follow the traditional path — university, independence, stability. But when he chooses music instead, his world begins to fracture in unexpected ways.
From London to Accra and back again, Small Worlds is a beautifully crafted exploration of belonging, freedom, and the spaces we carve out for ourselves.
Isaac's Song by Daniel Black
The beloved author of Don’t Cry for Me and Perfect Peace returns with a poignant, emotionally exuberant novel about a young queer Black man finding his voice in 1980s Chicago — a novel of family, forgiveness and perseverance, for fans of The Great Believers and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.
Isaac has spent his life suppressing his artistic dreams and true self, shaped by his tough, traditional father in Missouri. But in late ’80s Chicago, he finally finds the freedom to embrace who he is — until the weight of the AIDS crisis and Rodney King’s attack threaten to shatter his newfound joy. At his therapist’s urging, Isaac begins writing his story, uncovering deep creative energy that leads him back to his family roots in Arkansas. As he unravels inherited trauma and the nation’s dark past, a shocking discovery emerges — one that could either bring him the truth he’s searching for or upend everything he’s built.
Poignant, sweeping and luminously told, Isaac’s Song is a return to the beloved characters of Don’t Cry for Me and a high-water mark in the career of an award-winning author.
We Are a Haunting by Tyriek White
A poignant debut for readers of Jesmyn Ward and Jamel Brinkley, We Are a Haunting follows three generations of a working class family and their inherited ghosts: a story of hope and transformation.
In 1980s Brooklyn, Key is a beloved doula, guiding the Black women of her East New York neighborhood while carrying a sacred gift—she can communicate with the departed. But when her life is cut short, she leaves behind her grieving mother, Audrey, on the brink of losing their home, and her young son, Colly, who soon realizes he’s inherited her extraordinary ability. Years later, after being expelled from school, Colly is forced to navigate a changing city that feels increasingly distant from the community he once knew. As he grows, he begins to understand his responsibility to the place that shaped him. Returning to East New York after college, he dedicates himself to addressing the systemic neglect that has long plagued his neighborhood, forging a new path forward from the ruins of the past.
A supernatural family saga, a searing social critique, and a lyrical and potent account of displaced lives, We Are a Haunting unravels the threads connecting the past, present, and future, and depicts the palpable, breathing essence of the neglected corridors of a pulsing city with pathos and poise.
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob The Drag Queen
From RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, Traitors contestant, and host of HBO’s We’re Here comes an inventive, wondrous novel about American hero Harriet Tubman that remixes history into a fresh, dynamic novel about love, freedom, salvation, and hip-hop.
In a world where history’s greatest heroes have mysteriously returned, Harriet Tubman is back—and she has a story to tell in a way no one expects. Determined to share her journey like never before, Harriet envisions a hip-hop album and live show about her life. But to make it happen, she needs a songwriter. Enter Darnell Williams, a once-successful hip-hop producer whose career was derailed after being outed on live TV. When Darnell steps into the studio with Harriet and the four freedom seekers she once led, he has no idea what’s in store. As they race against time to craft an album that will shake the nation, they confront the pain of their pasts and discover the power of music to heal, inspire, and change the future.
Original, evocative, and historic, Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is a landmark achievement that will burrow deep into our hearts (and ears).
Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins by Mary Frances Phillips
The first biography of Ericka Huggins, a queer Black woman who brought spiritual self-care practices to the Black Panther Party.
Mary Frances Phillips delivers a powerful and revealing biography of Ericka Huggins, a Black Panther Party leader, mother, widow, educator, poet, and former political prisoner. In 1969, Huggins was arrested alongside Bobby Seale and other Black Panthers in a politically charged case tied to the murder of Alex Rackley, making her a target of FBI COINTELPRO surveillance and persecution. Using never-before-seen prison records, letters, photographs, and FBI files, Phillips explores Huggins’s resilience in the face of repression. She highlights how Huggins relied on spiritual wellness practices to endure incarceration and navigate motherhood, illuminating the crucial role of self-care and community care within the Black Panther Party and the larger Black Power movement.
Transcending the traditional male-centric study of the Black Panther Party, Black Panther Woman offers an innovative analysis of Black political life at the intersections of gender, motherhood, and mass incarceration. This book serves as an invaluable toolkit for contemporary activists, underscoring the power of radical acts of care as well as vital strategies to thrive in the world.
Black Women Taught Us: An Intimate History of Black Feminism by Jenn M. Jackson
This is my offering. My love letter to them, and to us.
In their debut book, Jenn M. Jackson, PhD, brings sharp historical insight to a critical question: Why has Black women’s freedom fighting been overlooked, and what have we lost by ignoring their lessons? This powerful collection of eleven essays repositions Black women’s intellectual and political work at the heart of today’s liberation movements. From Harriet Jacobs and Ida B. Wells to the Combahee River Collective and Audre Lorde, Jackson highlights the long legacy of Black women’s organizing, theorizing, and coalition-building for racial, gender, and sexual justice — despite the erasure of their efforts. Both deeply personal and politically urgent, this book is a love letter to those who have fought, often at great risk, to shape a more just world.
For a new generation of movement organizers and co-strugglers, Black Women Taught Us serves as a reminder that Black women were the first ones to teach us how to fight racism, how to name that fight, and how to imagine a more just world for everyone.
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry
A surprising and beautiful meditation on the color blue — and its fascinating role in Black history and culture—from National Book Award winner Imani Perry.
Imani Perry takes readers on a powerful journey through history, art, and personal reflection, exploring the deep connection between Blackness and the color blue. Blue symbolizes hope and possibility endless skies, open waters but it also carries sorrow, as echoed in Louis Armstrong’s haunting lyric, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” Drawing from her own life, as well as cultural and historical touchstones, Perry traces this connection across time and place. She unpacks the indigo cloths of West Africa, once traded for human lives, the complex legacy of “Blue Black” as a descriptor of dark-skinned people, and the blues music that channels both pain and joy. In this lyrical and thought-provoking book, Perry reveals how blue — and Blackness — hold profound layers of meaning, shaping history, identity, and the human experience.
Poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original, Black in Blues is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, it is every bit as vivid, rich, and striking as blue itself.
Another Word for Love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace
A transformative memoir that reimagines the conventions of love and posits a radical vision for healing.
In Another Word for Love, award-winning journalist Carvell Wallace turns his keen storytelling eye inward, exploring his journey as a Black, queer man in America. With raw honesty and lyrical prose, Wallace reflects on his past—from seeking refuge with a young single mother and growing up in a predominantly white Pennsylvania town to navigating love, partnership, and parenthood while raising two teenagers in an uncertain world.
Blending personal narrative with deep emotional insight, this memoir is a moving meditation on life, healing, and the power of love in all its forms. Wallace invites readers to embrace the fullness of their humanity, making a profound case for wonder, resilience, and connection.
We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson
In We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson challenges the oversimplified narrative of Black resistance, which often reduces the struggle to a choice between Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s militancy. Instead, she offers a powerful and nuanced look at the many ways Black people — especially Black women — have fought back against white supremacy. Carter Jackson argues that dismissing Black resistance as “violent” is itself a tool of oppression, distracting from the relentless brutality of structural racism. From work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolt, force has played a critical role in the fight for freedom. But resistance takes many forms — not just confrontation, but also joy, rest, and the quiet power of walking away.
Bold, deeply researched, and ultimately hopeful, We Refuse reframes the history of Black struggle, celebrating resilience while offering a path forward toward true liberation.
The Black Box: Writing the Race by Henry Louis Gates
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 country’s history.
Distilled from Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s legendary Harvard course on African American studies, The Black Box: Writing the Race explores how Black writers have shaped the story of Black self-definition in America. From Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglass to Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, these literary giants used words to carve out a sense of home and humanity in a society built on racism. Gates unpacks the profound irony of a people legally and conceptually defined by their oppressors transforming themselves — through storytelling, essays, speeches, and poetry — into a resilient, creative, and diverse community.
This is the epic saga of Black literature as both resistance and revelation, tracing how generations of thinkers have pushed against the constraints of the “Black box” imposed upon them, redefining identity and shaping the fight for justice along the way.
