Black History Month 2021: Recent Books on African American History, Literature & More

To commemorate Black History Month in our usual bookish way, we present a list of selected books—new releases and older books newly added—that have arrived since last year's list. These books explore the depth of African American history and culture, including literature, art, politics, folklore, cooking, biographies and memoirs, activism and protest, poetry, performing arts.  Children's and Young Adult books selected by our children's librarians are featured below. This is just a very small fraction of what is in the Library's collection, so be sure to click subject links in our catalog records to explore other relevant books.  See previous year's lists (2020 | 2019), and the 2020 blog post "Books for Understanding, Books for Change" for more crucial reading. 

LITERATURE - CRITICISM & HISTORY,  ANTHOLOGIES

• Bruce, Dickson D. - The Origins Of African American Literature, 1680-1865
• Carby, Hazel V. - Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence Of The Afro-American Woman Novelist
• Cloutier, Jean-Christophe - Shadow Archives: The Lifecycles Of African American Literature
• Delany, Martin Robison - Blake Or, The Huts Of America: A Corrected Edition (edited and with an introduction by Jerome Mcgann)
• Ducille, Ann - The Coupling Convention: Sex, Text, And Tradition In Black Women's Fiction
• Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore - The Works Of Alice Dunbar-Nelson
• Ellison, Ralph - Conversations With Ralph Ellison
• Glaude, Eddie S. - Begin Again: James Baldwin's America And It's Urgent Lessons For Our Own (ebook available)
• Jones, Gayl - Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition In African American Literature
• Lorde, Audre - The Selected Works Of Audre Lorde (edited and with an introduction by Roxane Gay)
• Morrison, Toni - Toni Morrison: The Last Interview And Other Conversations (introduction by Nikki Giovanni)
• Tillet, Salamishah - In Search Of The Color Purple: The Story Of Alice Walker’s Masterpiece
• Tillman, Katherine Davis Chapman - The Works Of Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman
• Porter, Dorothy, Editor - Early Negro Writing, 1760-1837
• Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. & Valerie Smith, Editors - The Norton Anthology Of African American Literature
• Edim, Glory, Editor - Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves: An Anthology
• Bennett, Juda - The Toni Morrison Book Club

POETRY

• Dumas, Henry - Knees Of A Natural Man: The Selected Poetry Of Henry Dumas
• Giovanni, Nikki - Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
• Hull, Akasha Gloria - Color, Sex, & Poetry: Three Women Writers Of The Harlem Renaissance
• Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne - The Age Of Phillis
• Sandler, Matt - The Black Romantic Revolution: Abolitionist Poets At The End Of Slavery
• Young, Kevin, Editor - African American Poetry: 250 Years Of Struggle & Song
• Honey, Maureen, Editor - Shadowed Dreams: Women's Poetry Of The Harlem Renaissance

WOMEN'S STUDIES / FEMINISM

• Hull, Akasha (Gloria T.); Patricia Bell-Scott & Barbara Smith; editors - All The Women Are White, All The Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies
• Ball, Erica - As If She Were Free: A Collective Biography Of Women And Emancipation In The Americas
• Berry, Daina Ramey - A Black Women's History Of The United States
• Carruthers, Charlene A. - Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, And Feminist Mandate For Radical Movements
• Kendall, Mikki - Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That A Movement Forgot
• Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, editor - How We Get Free: Black Feminism And The Combahee River Collective
• Beverly Guy-Sheftal, editor - Words Of Fire: An Anthology Of African-American Feminist Thought (epilogue by Johnnetta B. Cole]

HISTORY

• Baumgartner, Alice L. - South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War
• Berry, Mary Frances - Long Memory: The Black Experience In America
• Bonner, Christopher James - Remaking the Republic: Black Politics and the Creation of American Citizenship
• Bristow, Nancy K. - Steeped In The Blood Of Racism: Black Power, Law And Order, And The 1970 Shootings At Jackson State College
• Clarke, John Henrik - African People In World History
• Flowe, Douglas J. - Uncontrollable Blackness: African American Men And Criminality In Jim Crow New York
• Horne, Gerald - The Dawning Of The Apocalypse: The Roots Of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, And Capitalism In The Long Sixteenth Century
• Horne, Gerald - The Rise And Fall Of The Associated Negro Press: Claude Barnett's Pan-African News And The Jim Crow Paradox
• Jerkins, Morgan - Wandering In Strange Lands: A Daughter Of The Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots
• Johnson, Walter - The Broken Heart Of America: St. Louis And The Violent History Of The United States
• Kearse, Bettye - The Other Madisons: The Lost History Of A President's Black Family
• Kendi, Ibram X. & Keisha N. Blain, Editors - Four Hundred Souls: A Community History Of African America, 1619-2019
• Kilson, Martin - Transformation Of The African American Intelligentsia, 1880-2012
• Moses, Wilson Jeremiah - Afrotopia: The Roots Of African American Popular History
• Papson, Don - Secret Lives Of The Underground Railroad In New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon And The Record Of Fugitives (foreword by A.J. Williams-Myers)
• Sernett, Milton C. - North Star Country: Upstate New York And The Crusade For African American Freedom
• Spires, Derrick Ramon - The Practice Of Citizenship: Black Politics And Print Culture In The Early United States
• Thomas, William G. - A Question Of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery From The Nation's Founding To The Civil War
• Tomlins, Christopher - In The Matter Of Nat Turner: A Speculative History
• Trotter, Joe William - Workers On Arrival: Black Labor In The Making Of America
• Vandervelde, Lea - Redemption Songs: Suing For Freedom Before Dred Scott
• Watts, Jill - The Black Cabinet: The Untold Story Of African Americans And Politics During The Age Of Roosevelt
• Wells, Jonathan Daniel - The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, And Resistance On The Eve Of The Civil War (ebook available)
• West, E. James - Ebony Magazine And Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History In Postwar America

U.S. RACE RELATIONS, CIVIL RIGHTS, PROTEST & ACTIVISM

• Anderson, Devery S. - Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked The World And Propelled The Civil Rights Movement (foreword by Julian Bond)
• Billings, David - Deep Denial: The Persistence Of White Supremacy In United States History And Life
• Bittker, Boris - The Case For Black Reparations 2nd Ed.
• Blow, Charles - Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto
• Bond, Julian - Julian Bond's Time To Teach: A History Of The Southern Civil Rights Movement
• Bond, Julian - Race Man: Selected Works, 1960-2015 (prefaces by Pamela Horowitz and Jeanne Theoharis; edited by Michael G. Long; afterword by Douglas Brinkley)
• Carson, Clayborne - In Struggle: SNCC And The Black Awakening Of The 1960s
• Crump, Benjamin - Open Season: Legalized Genocide Of Colored People
• Currie, Elliott - A Peculiar Indifference: The Neglected Toll Of Violence On Black America
• Darity, William A., Jr. - From Here To Equality: Reparations For Black Americans In The Twenty-First Century
• Davies, Tom Adam - Mainstreaming Black Power
• Davis, Angela Y. - Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, And The Foundations Of A Movement
• Ellsworth, Scott - Death In A Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot Of 1921 (foreword by John Hope Franklin)
• Garrett, Kent. - The Last Negroes At Harvard: The Class Of 1963 And The Eighteen Young Men Who Changed Harvard Forever
• Hollars, B. J. - The Road South: Personal Stories Of The Freedom Riders
• Jones, Martha S. - Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won The Vote, And Insisted On Equality For All
• Joseph, Peniel E. - The Sword And The Shield: The Revolutionary Lives Of Malcolm X And Martin Luther King Jr.
• Kevin M. Kruse & Stephen Tuck, Editors - Fog Of War: The Second World War And The Civil Rights Movement
• Lopez Bunyasi, Tehama - Stay Woke: A People's Guide To Making All Black Lives Matter
• Lorde, Audre - Sister Outsider: Essays And Speeches (foreword by Cheryl Clarke)
• Lovett, Laura - With Her Fist Raised: Dorothy Pitman Hughes And The Transformative Power Of Black Community Activism
• Murray, Albert - The Omni-Americans: Some Alternatives To The Folklore Of White Supremacy (foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)
• Ralph, Laurence - The Torture Letters: Reckoning With Police Violence
• Rankine, Claudia - Just Us: An American Conversation (ebook available)
• Ransby, Barbara - Ella Baker And The Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision
• Richardson, Allissa V. - Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, And The New Protest #Journalism
• Robinson, Cedric J. - Black Marxism: The Making Of The Black Radical Tradition (foreword by Robin D.G. Kelley; with a new preface by the author)
• Schaub, Jean-Frédéric - Race Is About Politics: Lessons From History
• Schuyler, George S. - Rac(e)Ing To The Right: Selected Essays Of George S. Schuyler (edited by Jeffrey B. Leak)
• Tatum, Beverly Daniel - Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race
• Thompson, Clifford - What It Is: Race, Family, And One Thinking Black Man's Blues
• Till-Mobley, Mamie - Death Of Innocence: The Story Of The Hate Crime That Changed America (account of Emmett Till murder written by his mother) 
• Touré - Who's Afraid Of Post-Blackness?: What It Means To Be Black Now (foreword by Michael Eric Dyson)
• Van Meter, Matthew - Deep Delta Justice: A Black Teen, His Lawyer, And Their Groundbreaking Battle For Civil Rights In The South
• Walker, Jerald - How To Make A Slave And Other Essays
• Wilderson, Frank B., III - Afropessimism
• Wilkerson, Isabel - Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents (ebook & audiobook available)

FINE & PERFORMING ARTS, PHOTOGRAPHY

• Burford, Mark - Mahalia Jackson: And The Black Gospel Field
• Golia, Maria - Ornette Coleman: The Territory And The Adventure
• Grupenhoff, Richard - The Black Valentino: The Stage And Screen Career Of Lorenzo Tucker
• Mason, Clifford - Macbeth In Harlem: Black Theater In America From The Beginning To Raisin In The Sun
• Monahan, Anne - Horace Pippin: American Modern
• Ribowsky, Mark - The Big Life Of Little Richard
• Smith, Ming - Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph
• Smith, Morgan, - Harlem: The Vision Of Morgan And Marvin Smith (foreword by Gordon Parks, Sr.; introductions by James A. Miller)
• Willis, Deborah - The Black Civil War Soldier: A Visual History Of Conflict And Citizenship
• Zack, Ian - Odetta: A Life In Music And Protest
• Turner, Elizabeth Hutton & Austen Barron Bailly, Editors - Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle
• Barbash, Ilisa; Molly Rogers & Deborah Willis; Editors - To Make Their Own Way In The World: The Enduring Legacy Of The Zealy Daguerreotypes (foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)

BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS

• Bernard, Emily - Black Is The Body: Stories From My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time, And Mine
• Friedwald, Will - Straighten Up And Fly Right: The Life And Music Of Nat King Cole
• Griffin, Farah Jasmine - If You Can't Be Free, Be A Mystery: In Search Of Billie Holiday
• Hutchinson, George - In Search Of Nella Larsen: A Biography Of The Color Line
• Johnson, James Weldon - Along This Way (Introduction By Sondra K. Wilson)
• Marable, Manning - W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Radical Democrat
• Meacham, Jon - His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis And The Power Of Hope
• Mikorenda, Jerry - America's First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, And The Early Fight For Civil Rights
• Obama, Barack - A Promised Land (ebook & audiobook available)
• Parker, Alison M. - Unceasing Militant: The Life Of Mary Church Terrell
• Payne, Les - The Dead Are Arising: The Life Of Malcolm X
• Perry, Jeffrey - Hubert Harrison: The Struggle For Equality, 1918–1927
• Schechter, Patricia Ann - Ida B. Wells-Barnett And American Reform, 1880-1930
• Shakur, Assata - Assata: An Autobiography (forewords by Angela Davis and Lennox S. Hinds)
• Trethewey, Natasha - Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir (ebook & audiobook available)
• Tyson, Cecily - Just As I Am: A Memoir

FOLKWAYS & TRADITIONS

• Hurston, Zora Neale - Go Gator And Muddy The Water: Writings By Zora Neale Hurston From The Federal Writers' Project (edited and with a biographical essay by Pamela Bordelon)
• Lester, Julius - Black Folktales
• Tipton-Martin, Toni - Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries Of African American Cooking

RELIGION

• Boles, Richard - Dividing The Faith: The Rise Of Segregated Churches In The Early American North
• Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.  - The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song

SLAVE NARRATIVES

• Cahan, Richard & Michael Wiliams, Editors - River Of Blood: American Slavery From The People Who Lived It: Interviews & Photographs Of Formerly Enslaved African Americans (this is the first time many of these photographs have been published)
• Williams, James - Narrative Of James Williams, An American Slave
• Yetman, Norman R., Editor - Voices From Slavery: 100 Authentic Slave Narratives

Book for Children & Young Adults...

CHILDREN

• Kendi, Ibram X. - Antiracist Baby (picture book) | Ages 1-4
• Kendi, Ibram X. - Antiracist Baby (board book) | Ages 1-4
• Nyong'o, Lupita - Sulwe | Ages 3-7
• Joy, Angela - Black Is A Rainbow Color (Illustrated By Ekua Holmes) | Ages 3-8
• Slade, Suzanne - Swish! : The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters iIllustrated by Don Tate) | Ages 3-9
• Adler, David A. - Run, Mo, Run! | Ages 4-8
• Adler, David A. - Swim, Mo, Swim! (Illustrated By Sam Ricks) | Ages 4-8
• Hillery, Tony - Harlem Grown | Ages 4-8
• Medina, Meg - Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away (illustrated by Sonia Sánchez) | Ages 4-8
• Clark-Robinson, Monica - Let The Children March | Ages 5-8
• Alexander, Kwame - The Undefeated (illustrated by Kadir Nelson) | Ages 6-Adult
• Elliott, Zetta - Dragons In A Bag (illustrations by Geneva B.) | Ages 7-10
• Bridges, Ruby - This Is Your Time | Ages 7-Adult
• Watson, Renée - Ways To Make Sunshine (illustrated by Nina Mata) | Ages 8-11
• Glaser, Karina Yan - Vanderbeekers Lost And Found | Ages 8-12
• Mcdonough, Yona Zeldis - Who Was Harriet Tubman? (ebook only) | Ages 8-12
• Mcdonough, Yona Zeldis - Who Was Rosa Parks? (ebook only) | Ages 8-12
• Johnson, Varian - Twins (illustrated by Shannon Wright) | Ages 8-13
• Watson, Renee - Some Places More Than Others | Ages 9-12
• Woodson, Jacqueline - Before The Ever After (ebook & audiobook available) | Ages 9-12
• Craft, Jerry - New Kid (ebook available) | Ages 9-13
• Craft, Jerry - Class act | Ages 9-13
• Pinkney, Andrea Davis - Loretta Little Looks Back: Three Voices Go Tell It: a Monologue Novel (illustrations by Brian Pinkney) | Ages 9-Adult

YOUNG ADULT-MIDDLE SCHOOL

• Patterson, James & Kwame Alexander - Becoming Muhammad Ali (illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile) | Ages 9-13
• Zoboi, Ibi - My Life As An Ice Cream Sandwich | Ages 9-13
• Callender, Kacen - King And The Dragonflies | Ages 9-14
• Barron, Rena - Maya And The Rising Dark | Ages 10-13
• Kendall, Christine - The True Definition Of Neva Beane | Ages 10-13
• Mbalia, Kwame - Tristan Strong Punches A Hole In The Sky | Ages 10-13
• Reynolds, Jason - Look Both Ways: A Tale Told In Ten Blocks | Ages 10-13
• Jewell, Tiffany - This Book Is Anti-Racist | Ages 10-Adult
• Colbert, Brandy - The Voting Booth | Ages 12-18
• Reynolds, Jason - The Boy In The Black Suit | Ages 12-18
• Reynolds, Jason & Kendi, Ibram X. - Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, And You (ebook and audiobook available) | Ages 12-Adult

YOUNG ADULT-HIGH SCHOOL

• Giles, L. R. (Lamar R.) - Not So Pure And Simple | Ages 13-18
• Jackson, Tiffany - Let Me Hear A Rhyme | Ages 13-18
• Reynolds, Jason - All American Boys (ebook only) | Ages 13-18
• Grimes, Nikki. - Ordinary Hazards : A Memoir | Ages 13-Adult
• Zoboi, Ibi & Yusef Salaam - Punching The Air (ebook available) | Ages 13-Adult
• Stone, Nic - Dear Justyce | Ages 14-18
• Taylor, Mildred D. - All The Days Past, All The Days To Come | Ages 14-18
• Reynolds, Jason - Long Way Down : The Graphic Novel (With Art By Danica Novgorodoff) | Ages 14-Adult