Recommendations for Black History Month
Click below to view a list of our recommendations to celebrate Black History Month, all available in our collection. Each title is linked to its MHLS Catalog listing so you can easily find and request the title you are interested in. Head over to our Instagram for highlighted content and more information about Black History Month all month long.
Adult Non-Fiction
- And still I rise / Maya Angelou
- Frederick Douglass : prophet of freedom / David W. Blight.
- Invisible : the forgotten story of the black woman lawyer who took down America’s most powerful mobster / Stephen L. Carter
- The black list / Elvis Mitchell and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
- The last black unicorn / Tiffany Haddish
- Five plays by Langston Hughes / edited with an introduction by Webster Smalley
- Call me American : a memoir / by Abdi Nor Iftin with Max Alexander
- Becoming / Michelle Obama
- My American journey : an autobiography / Colin L. Powell, with Joseph E. Persico
- Shook one : anxiety playing tricks on me / Charlamagne Tha God
- Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race / Margot Lee Shetterly
- Rabbit : the autobiography of Ms. Pat / Patricia Williams with Jeannine Amber
- Black fortunes : the story of the first six African Americans who escaped slavery and became millionaires / Shomari Wills
- Black boy : a record of childhood and youth / Richard Wright ; with an introduction by Jerry W. Ward, Jr
Adult Fiction
- Americanah : a novel / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
- My sister, the serial killer : a novel / Oyinkan Braithwaite.
- Homegoing : a novel / Yaa Gyasi.
- Their eyes were watching God : a novel / Zora Neale Hurston
- An American marriage : a novel / by Tayari Jones
- Home / Toni Morrison
- The help / Kathryn Stockett
- Sing, unburied, sing : a novel / Jesmyn Ward.
Young Adult
- Children of blood and bone / by Tomi Adeyemi
- Solo / by Kwame Alexander, with Mary Rand Hess
- We are not yet equal : understanding our racial divide / by Carol Anderson
- The Breakbeat poets : new American poetry in the age of hip-hop / Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, & Nate Marshall, editors
- Tyler Johnson was here / Jay Coles
- The secret life of bees / Sue Monk Kidd
- Best shot in the West : the adventures of Nat Love / by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack, Jr. ; illustrated by Randy DuBurke
- Juba! : a novel / by Walter Dean Myers
- Invasion / Walter Dean Myers
- All American boys / Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely
- The hate u give / Angie Thomas
- Revolution : a novel / by Deborah Wiles
- Another Brooklyn : a novel / Jacqueline Woodson
- Black Panther: a graphic novel
Children’s
- Last stop on Market Street / words by Matt de la Peña ; pictures by Christian Robinson
- As brave as you / Jason Reynolds
- Black Panther : This is Black Panther! / adapted by Alexandra West ; illustrated by Simone Boufantino, Davide Mastrolodardo, and Fabio Paciulli
- Black Panther : the young prince / Ronald L. Smith
- Black Panther: On the prowl! / adapted by R.R. Busse ; illustrations by Steve Kurth ; produced by Kevin Feige, P.G.A. ; directed by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole
- J SERIES WHO WAS — a great way to teach kids about history is this engaging biography series. Once they start, they usually want to read every book in the collection!
- Who is Muhammad Ali? / by James Buckley Jr. ; illustrated by Stephen Marchesi
- Who was Jesse Owens? / by James Buckley Jr. ; illustrated by Gregory Copeland
- Who are Venus and Serena Williams? / by James Buckley Jr. ; illustrated by Andrew Thomson
- Who was Rosa Parks? / by Yona Zeldis McDonough ; illustrated by Stephen Marchesi
- Who was Martin Luther King, Jr?
- Who is Barack Obama? / by Roberta Edwards ; illustrated by John O’Brien
- Who is Michelle Obama? / by Megan Stine ; illustrated by John O’Brien
