As Black History Month reaches a close, it is important to continue conversations, education and celebrations through the Black literary experience. Tackling personal life adventures, systemic racism, a country’s dismantling and beyond, literature is a rich and powerful medium through which we may explore the Black diaspora. Featuring renowned names like Michelle Obama and authors you have not yet had the chance to discover, this list is a starting point from which you may start your literary journey and delve into complex and liberating stories.
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
In a brilliant memoir detailing a fight for identity as a young, Black gay man from the South, Saeed Jones tells the story of coming-of-age and coming-out simultaneously.
Get it from Amazon.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
With mass incarceration being a prominent and horrific part of the U.S., Michelle Alexander’s book explores how this condition is reflective of modern day forms of slavery. Jim Crow and his case is an underlying thread in outlining racism, incarceration and prejudice in the United States.
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
A major motion picture starring Amandla Stenberg, the book by Angie Thomas is a masterpiece. 16-year-old Starr battles two very contrasting lives: the poor neighbourhood where she lives and the posh and mainly white high school that she attends. In a coming-of-age novel on police brutality, protest, racism and justice, this book is a beautiful and terrifying literary experience.
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi’s epic tale of two Ghanaian half sisters, Effia and Esi, is a harrowing tale of slavery, legacy and generational history. Both unaware of the other, each sister follows different paths and the stories of their descendants.
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Becoming by Michelle Obama
In her memoir, Michelle Obama, one of the most compelling women of our era, tells the journey of her life including her time as First Lady. From the South Side of Chicago to the White House, this is the story of becoming.
Get it on Amazon.
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
In the form and structure of poetry, Jacqueline Woodson explores growing up as an African American in the 60s and 70s through a series of emotionally charging poems. Raised in South Carolina and New York, her works highlight the struggles of identity and finding yourself.
Get it on Amazon.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Like the title suggests, Trevor Noah, Host of The Daily Show, was never supposed to exist. Born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, his existence came at a time when such a relationship and indiscretion could mean 5 years in prison. His tale is of a young boy who, with the fearlessness of his mother, finds himself as he struggles to escape the limitations and struggles he was born into.
Get it from Amazon.
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