Black History Month has become one of the most celebrated cultural heritage months out of the year in the U.S. It provides an opportunity to center, honor, and celebrate the accomplishments of Black Americans and is a time to reflect on the continued fight towards racial justice. Understanding Black history and learning more about systemic racism is especially important in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests that gained momentum this summer after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and too many others. As Black History Month officially comes to a close, let’s remember celebrating Black lives shouldn’t be restricted to one month or moments of civil unrest because Black history is our history.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of
America’s Great Migration by Isobel Wilkerson
“In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.”
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward
“The New York Times bestseller, these groundbreaking essays and poems about race—collected by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward and written by the most important voices of her generation—are “thoughtful, searing, and at times, hopeful. The Fire This Time is vivid proof that words are important, because of their power to both cleanse and to clarify” (USA TODAY).
Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A
Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel
“In Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching, Mychal Denzel Smith chronicles his own personal and political education during these tumultuous years, describing his efforts to come into his own in a world that denied his humanity. Smith unapologetically upends reigning assumptions about black masculinity, rewriting the script for black manhood so that depression and anxiety aren’t considered taboo, and feminism and LGBTQ rights become part of the fight.”
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington
“The first full history of Black America’s shocking mistreatment as unwilling and unwitting experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment. No one concerned with issues of public health and racial justice can afford not to read this masterful book that will stir up both controversy and long-needed debate.”
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made
for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
“From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America’s love affair with “diversity” so often falls short of its ideals.”