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2025 Adult Black History Month (DEI) Booklist

February display

Showing 21 - 40 of 105  There are a total of 108 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Did you hear about Kitty Karr?"
Star rating for Did you hear about Kitty Karr?
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"When white silver screen icon Kitty Karr Tate dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the three Black St. John sisters, it prompts questions. A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty's affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty's journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could-and between a cheating fiancé and fallout from a controversial...
Book cover for "Dilla time"
Star rating for Dilla time
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Equal parts musicology, biography, and cultural history, Dilla Time chronicles the invention of a new kind of beat by the most underappreciated musical genius of our time.
Book cover for "Dreams from my father"
Star rating for Dreams from my father
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS
In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World).

 
“Quite extraordinary.”—Toni Morrison 
 
In...
Book cover for "Drunk on love"
Star rating for Drunk on love
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Margot Noble needs some relief from the stress of running the family winery with her brother. Enter Luke: sexy, charming, and best of all in the too-small world of Napa, a stranger. The chemistry between them is undeniable, and Margot is delighted that she lucked into the perfect one-night stand she'll never have to see again. That is, until the winery's newest hire, Luke, walks in the next morning. Margot is determined to keep things purely professional,...
Book cover for "Everywhere you don't belong"
Star rating for Everywhere you don't belong
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Raised by a civil-rights activist grandmother on the South Side of Chicago, Claude McKay Love searches for a sense of belonging before a riot compels his departure for college, where he discovers he cannot escape his past.
Book cover for "Extraordinary, ordinary people"
Star rating for Extraordinary, ordinary people
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:

This is the story of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl—and a young woman—trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world, of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community that made all the difference.

Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist. Her achievements run the gamut from helping

...
Book cover for "Female, gifted & black"
Star rating for Female, gifted & black
Description:
"Celebrate the power of Black women who shaped and revolutionized society. Driven by female empowerment, this unique collection of biographies tells stories of the strength, perseverance, and talent of many amazing Black pioneers. From musicians, actors, and other creators of color, to visual artists, literary mavens, models, and dancers, the mighty figures in Female, Gifted and Black changed society and paved the way to greatness for future generations....
Book cover for "Four hundred souls"
Star rating for Four hundred souls
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"A "choral history" of African Americans covering 400 years of history in the voices of 80 writers, edited by the bestselling, National Book Award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Last year marked the four hundredth anniversary of the first African presence in the Americas--and also launched the Four Hundred Souls project, spearheaded by Ibram X. Kendi, director of the Antiracism Institute of American University, and Keisha Blain,...
Book cover for "Frederick Douglass"
Star rating for Frederick Douglass
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"The definitive, dramatic biography of the most important African-American of the nineteenth century: Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era. As a young man Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major...
Book cover for "Friday black"
Star rating for Friday black
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"An unbelievable debut, one that announces a new and necessary American voice."—New York Times Book Review

The acclaimed debut collection from the author of Chain Gang All Stars; a piercingly raw and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it's like to be young and Black in America.

From the start of this extraordinary debut, Nana Kwame

...
Book cover for "Girl, woman, other"
Star rating for Girl, woman, other
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"The twelve central characters of this multi-voiced novel lead vastly different lives: Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London's funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley's former students, works hard to earn a degree from Oxford and becomes an investment banker; Carole's mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about...
Book cover for "Go tell it on the mountain"
Star rating for Go tell it on the mountain
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Originally published in 1953, this is "a hardcover edition of James Baldwin's classic coming-of-age novel set in Harlem in the 1930s, with a new introduction by Edwidge Danticat"--
Book cover for "God help the child"
Star rating for God help the child
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Notable Book • This fiery and provocative novel from the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner weaves a tale about the way the sufferings of childhood can shape, and misshape, the life of the adult.

At the center: a young woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life, but which caused...
Book cover for "A good cry"
Star rating for A good cry
Description:

The poetry of Nikki Giovanni has spurred movements, turned hearts and informed generations. She's been hailed as a firebrand, a radical, a courageous activist who has spoken out on the sensitive issues that touch our national consciousness, including race and gender, social justice, protest, violence in the home and in the streets, and why black lives matter.

One of America's most celebrated poets looks inward in this powerful

...
Book cover for "Grand union"
Star rating for Grand union
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Description:
"A dazzling collection of short fiction, more than half of which have never been published before. In her first short story collection, Smith combines her power of observation and inimitable voice to mine the fraught and complex experience of life in the modern world."--
Book cover for "Half American"
Star rating for Half American
Description:
"The definitive history of World War II from the African American perspective, written by civil rights expert and Dartmouth history professor Matthew Delmont. Over one million Black men and women served in World War II. Black troops were at Normandy, Iwo Jima, and the Battle of the Bulge, serving in segregated units and performing unheralded but vital support jobs, only to be denied housing and educational opportunities on their return home. Without...
Book cover for "The heart of a woman"
Star rating for The heart of a woman
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Maya Angelou has fascinated, moved, and inspired  countless readers with the first three volumes of  her autobiography, one of the most remarkable  personal narratives of our age. Now, in her fourth  volume, The Heart of a Woman, her  turbulent life breaks wide open with joy as the  singer-dancer enters the razzle-dazzle of fabulous  New York City. There, at the Harlem Writers...
Book cover for "Hidden figures"
Star rating for Hidden figures
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
"Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in...
Book cover for "The hill we climb"
Star rating for The hill we climb
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"On January 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the sixth and youngest poet to deliver a poetry reading at a presidential inauguration. Taking the stage after the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, Gorman captivated the nation and brought hope to viewers around the globe." --Book jacket.
Book cover for "His name is George Floyd"
Star rating for His name is George Floyd
Description:
A landmark biography that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd's life and legacy -- from his family's roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing -- telling the singular story of how one man's tragic experience brought about a global movement for change. The events of that day are now tragically familiar: on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the...