20 Essential Black History Books That Belong on Everyone’s TBR List

Yep, this one’s a classic, and it’s well worth the read. In this epic book, Isabel Wilkerson traces the migration of 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West through the stories of three individuals: one who left Mississippi for blue-collar success in Chicago, one who fled Florida to fight for civil rights in Harlem, and one abandoned Louisiana to pursue a medical career.

Winner of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, poet and journalist Clint Smith’s bestseller takes a deep dive into the dark legacy of slavery in America. How the Word Is Passed demonstrates how slavery has played a role in shaping our nation’s history, as reluctant as some are to admit it. It’s a challenging read, but it’s a necessary one.

It’s been nearly 60 years since Jim Crow laws were overruled, but systems still exist today to limit the freedom of Black Americans. Written by civil rights advocate and litigator Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow dismisses the idea of color-blindness, suggesting that the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control and that a racial caste system in America is still very much alive.

If you believe neighborhood segregation is simply a result of prejudice or economic disparity, then this book is here to blow your damn mind. Richard Rothstein pulls back the curtain on the many ways in which the American government has instituted systematically imposed residential segregation, and it’s pretty eye-opening, to say the least.

Warning: This one is not for the faint of heart. Another National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Medical Apartheid explores the horrific mistreatment of Black Americans at the hands of the medical world—from experimental exploitation to unauthorized autopsies and dissections—and how it’s persisted from the era of slavery up until today.

Think the modern feminist movement addresses the needs of all women? Think again. Through a collection of essays, Hood Feminism confronts the issues of mainstream feminism and how it often fails BIPOC women by increasing privilege for a few while neglecting the basic needs—such as education, safety, and medical care—of many.

Hi, did you know that the median white family has 13 times more wealth than the median Black family? This wealth disparity isn’t an accident, and law professor Mehrsa Baradaran explains how Black capitalism has failed to improve the financial fortunes of Black people and will continue to do so as long as we live in a segregated economy.

This one’s for anyone who believes we’re living in a post-racial society (because spoiler alert: We’re not). Winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Ibram X. Kendi’s highly acclaimed book chronicles the roots of anti-Black thinking in America, exploring how these ideas were created and why they’re so deeply rooted in our culture.

This triple biography by Anna Malaika Tubbs centers on the lives of Alberta King, Louise Little, and Berdis Baldwin, all of whom were born at the beginning of the 20th century in the era of Jim Crow legislation and who raised their sons to prosper in a world that was determined to oppress them.

The fifth installment in Beacon Press’s ReVisioning American History series is all about Black women’s stories, showcasing the many enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, activists, and outlaws who enriched the lives of fellow Black women throughout the nation.

For something a little different, be sure to check out this provocative reflection on the limited power of Black athletes in America. Despite belonging to a multibillion-dollar industry, William C. Rhoden argues that African American athletes have long been bridled, exploited, and cut off from their communities, and it’s a pretty fascinating read.

Published in 2021 following the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, historian Elizabeth Hinton’s American on Fire debunks the supposed progress toward equality made since the civil rights movement, exploring the many instances in which police brutality has led to Black rebellion, not the other way around.

Another shocking historical exposé, this Pulitzer Prize–winning book dives into the little-known history of post-Civil War neoslavery, exploring the practice of “leasing” convicts (who were predominately Black men) through government-run forced labor camps following the Emancipation Proclamation.

Part graphic novel, part memoir, Wake was written by a historian and granddaughter of slaves, Rebecca Hall. Through court records, slave ship captains’ logs, and even forensic evidence, Hall managed to learn more about the women who fought for freedom during the Middle Passage and the women who led slave revolts in colonial New York as well as how the legacy of slavery has shaped her own life.

In this National Book Award winner, Ta-Nehisi Coates reflects on the painful, radical truths about being Black in America, all written in the form of a letter to his 15-year-old son. From slavery and segregation to mass incarceration and murder, Coates speaks about the many burdens placed on Black men and women, and like Toni Morrison said, this one really is required reading for everyone.

Published eight decades after it was written, Zora Neale Hurston’s posthumous book Barracoon tells the wild true story of Cudjo Lewis, one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade, as told through a series of interviews with the famous Harlem Renaissance–era writer.

Yep, we’ve got another one by Isabel Wilkerson, because she’s just that good. In her latest, Wilkerson offers readers a look at the hidden caste system that has shaped America, using stories of real people—such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and professional baseball player Leroy “Satchel” Paige—to illustrate how this hierarchy of human rankings influences people’s lives and behaviors every day.

Winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Imani Perry’s memoir follows her journey home to her native Alabama, where she explores the habits, dispositions, and troubling history associated with life below the Mason-Dixon line, including the parts our nation is reluctant to acknowledge.

This one-volume “community” history of African Americans includes contributions from 90 brilliant writers, each of whom tackled a five-year period between 1619 and 2019 in order to collectively tell the 400-year story of African American history. The perspectives and stories range from mournful to hopeful, and it’s really a stunning achievement.

Inspired by political activist Kimberly Jones’s viral “How Can We Win” video, this book delves into the devastating impact of systemic racism, and it details Jones’s plan to reclaim the economic and social restitutions that Black individuals have been denied for more than 150 years.