Authors to Read for Black History Month

February is Blackness History Calendar month, and if you're looking for a way to educate yourself and expand your knowledge most the accomplishments and contributions of Black people in American history, as well every bit reverberate on the inequalities and injustices that have been done against them, we've rounded upward xx books by some of the near brilliant Black authors and historical figures to read throughout the month and beyond.

From Maya Angelou's archetype memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" to the timeless and timely story of a immature unarmed Blackness boy who is killed by a police officer in "The Hate U Give" past Angie Thomas, these xx books are poignant, captivating, educating and even, in some cases, life-changing.

If yous're looking to further your knowledge even more, at that place are enough of incredible podcasts to listen to in celebration of Blackness History Month too. Some of our top picks include "Historically Black", which is hosted by celebrities such as Keegan-Michael Central, Roxane Gay and Issa Rae. Created in conjunction with the Smithsonian'south National Museum of African American History and Civilisation, this podcast features stories based off of personal objects submitted by listeners that "make upwardly their own lived experiences of Black history."

Another interesting podcasts to listen to this month also include "The Black History Buff Podcast" by King Kurus, "Witness Black History" by BBC Worldwide and "Code Switch" by NPR.

'The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story' past Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine

A crucial read for Black History Month, "The 1619 Project" is a profound mix of essays, poems and works of fiction from over fifty contributors and 17 authors that explores the deep-rooted legacy of slavery and how its inheritance in 1619 continues to shape every facet of modernistic American society, its constructs and its commonwealth to this day. This extraordinary and powerful drove of works is a wonderfully refreshing and enlightening lesson in reframing the state's history.

'You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays' by Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Genevieve W

This collection of influential essays spans over 3 decades of work past Zora Neale Hurston, one of the world's virtually legendary and celebrated writers from the Harlem Renaissance. In it, readers will find Hurston'due south controversial and provocative arguments on enslavement and Jim Crow, feminism, sexism, didactics and Black history itself. This is i book that is sure to earn a permanent spot on your bookshelf.

Brown's autobiography is the fascinating story of her rise to power every bit the first and only female person leader of the Black Panther Party. This coming-of-age tale weaves together the political history of the arrangement with her remarkable accomplishments as the sometime chairwoman, along with the tumultuous relationships, power struggles, acts of sexism and brutal racism that she experienced forth the way.

'Blackness Fortunes: The Story of the Starting time Half-dozen African Americans Who Survived Slavery and Became Millionaires' by Shomari Wills

This book tells the stories of the first six self-fabricated African-American millionaires. Afterwards escaping slavery and evading assassination and lynching attempts, lawsuits, and more, these six inspiring African-American entrepreneurs pioneered their way into the highest levels of fiscal success. This book recounts how their determination, resilience and achievements shaped and altered the social guild and influenced both Black and concern history.

"Invisible Human" is a thought-provoking and witty story most race that is beautifully narrated past a immature, nameless Black man in 1950s America in search of self-knowledge. Readers are taken on a journey from the Deep Southward to Harlem, where the protagonist experiences horrifying intolerance, cultural incomprehension and racial bigotry all in an effort to observe the true meaning of self-identity.

In this coming-of-age memoir, acclaimed writer and poet Maya Angelou details her experiences with racism, sexual trauma and violence she experienced as a young girl. Years later, she finds the freedom to heal through great literary works from authors such as William Shakespeare, kindness of others, and ultimately, self-dear. This story, the showtime in a seven-book serial, is an essential reading not only for Blackness History Month, only for life.

'Between the Earth and Me' by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates' uncommonly powerful and beautifully written memoir is a series of essays that takes the form of an open letter to his son about race in America. In it, Coates walks readers through his life while exploring his evolutionary thoughts on systemic racism, white exceptionalism and the terrible history of the subjugation of Black people in the United States.

This New York Times bestseller follows the story of Sethe, who is born into slavery and escapes to Ohio. Merely even after 18 years, the horrendous memories of dwelling still haunt her, forth with the ghost of her unnamed baby from her new home who is buried with only the word "Beloved" on her tombstone. This masterfully written tale of endurance, pain, heartache and power is absolute must-read by one of the nation's most revered Pulitzer Prize-winning authors.

'The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness' by Michelle Alexander

Michelle Alexander's groundbreaking book "The New Jim Crow" was published in 2010, and since then has inspired a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations, cited in judicial hearings and read at schools nationwide. This crucial reading demonstrates the link between slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration and racism and is a call to action for modern reform of America's criminal justice system.

"The Autobiography of Malcolm X" tells the extraordinary life story of the famed Muslim leader and man rights activist and dives into his perspective of the American Dream, the country'due south inherent racism and the growth of the Black Muslim motility.

This stunning historical account of the Great Migration — the half-dozen-million-strong mass movement immigration of Black Americans out of the feudal South — is nothing short of brilliant. After interviewing more than one thousand people, Wilkerson beautifully tells the story of the times through the lives of three unique people, capturing each of their treacherous journeys to new cities, their hardships and the new lives that they made for themselves and their families for generations to come up.

A No. 1 bestseller, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" follows Janie Crawford, an indefatigable Blackness woman in the 1930s and her journey through three turbulent marriages towards financial and emotional freedom. This love story is widely considered one of the nearly important works of twentieth-century American literature and should definitely be at the acme of your reading listing.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning volume was originally published in 1982 and has get one of the most-loved classic historical fiction novels of all time. The powerful story follows the lives of sisters Celie and Nettie, 2 Black women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia who were separated as young girls, and their resilience, growth, dear and companionship. This trailblazing novel highlights the traumas of domestic and sexual abuse and toxic masculinity and is surely one you won't want to put downwards.

"The Detest U Requite" is a heartbreakingly relevant and powerfully moving tale of a teenage girl named Starr who witnesses the fatal shooting of her best friend Khalil by a police force officer. This poignant story depicts the protests, media frenzy and impact that his death has on Starr, her family and her community, and emphasizes the need to speak upwardly most injustices and get-go conversations on racism, police brutality and the Black Lives Matter motility.

In this compelling and electrifying story, Colson Whitehead depicts the Clandestine Railroad equally precisely that — a underground network of tracks, tunnels, engineers and conductors. When Cora, a immature slave on a plantation in Georgia, escapes with Caesar, another slave from Virginia, they embark on a terrifying journey fleeing from state to state in search of freedom. This captivating tale is both a depiction of the nation'south history of slavery as well as the protagonist's story of resilience and willpower.

Brit Bennett'southward "The Vanishing Half" is a story of race, identity, family and history that will captivate your heart from the very first page. In it, two twin sisters run abroad from their small Southern Blackness community at the age of 16 only terminate up living two exceedingly different lives every bit adults: One ends up back in the same Southern town with her Black daughter while the other lives a privileged life while secretly passing for white, which her hubby and daughter know zip about. But years subsequently when the twins' daughters unintentionally cantankerous paths, their worlds collide and secrets begin to unravel.

'A Promised Land' past Barack Obama

Barack Obama'southward highly anticipated presidential memoir is introspective, compelling, powerful and intimate. Obama takes readers on a captivating journey from his early on political career through his fourth dimension in the Oval Office, reflecting on pivotal moments, decisions and challenges that shaped his time every bit the nation'south first Black president. This honest and beautifully written business relationship of life in the White House is one you won't want to put downwards.

This breathtaking novel follows ii half-sisters who are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. One sis is married off to an Englishman and lives in a palatial castle while the other is unknowingly imprisoned beneath her in the dungeons and sold with thousands of others into the Gilded Coast'south slave merchandise. "Homegoing" explores both sisters' lives and the forces that shape their family unit history through two threads: One through centuries of warfare in Ghana and the other'south through life in America as a slave all the way up to present solar day. This stunning tale is surely one non to be missed.

Released in 1963, this masterfully written book consists of ii essays: "My Dungeon Shook — Alphabetic character to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Ceremony of the Emancipation," and "Down At The Cantankerous — Letter from a Region of My Listen." The first explores how racism has shaped America's history in the form of a letter of the alphabet to Baldwin'south nephew, and the second examines the relationship between race and religion, focusing on the Black Christian church and the Islamic movement during the '60s. This archetype volume is a must-read for understanding race in America today.

Khan-Cullors, one of the three co-founding members of the Black Lives Thing movement, beautifully details her coming-of-age story and her ascension as one of the new generation'southward most prominent social activist leaders for racial equality. Her story of force, bravery, perseverance and resilience in the confront of constabulary brutality and trigger-happy racial injustice is one that will inspire you, move you lot to tears and take yous turning each page with bated breath.

mellowhatrold.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/cnn-underscored/black-history-month-books/index.html

Share this post