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World » Americas » United States » African American Books

Browse book recommendations:

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Here is our collection of expert-recommended books written by African American authors.

We spoke to Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin, director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University and she recommended five works of the best African American literature.

Becoming by Michelle Obama is one of our most recommended recent books. The New Jim Crow, a book that exposes the racial discrimination inherent to the American justice system, by the civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander, is the most recommended nonfiction book in our race and racism books section.

If you're looking for kids' books, we have an interview on the best books on black icons, aimed at younger children. African American authors dominated the shortlist of the prestigious Newbery Medal this year. Here's our interview with the chair of the judges, Krishna Grady, on the best kids' books of 2020. An unmissable audiobook for young adults is The Hate U Give.

Other notable fiction books include:

Just Above My Head by James Baldwin

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Beloved by Toni Morrison (one Five Books reader suggested you read Toni Morrison's books in this order to get the best out of them)

The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde

Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

High Cotton by Darrly Pinckney

The Adrienne Kennedy Reader by Adrienne Kennedy

Other notable nonfiction books include:

My American Journey By Colin Powell

Islam and the Blackamerican by Sherman Jackson

The Philadelphia Negro by W E B DuBois

We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates

    The Best Books for Juneteenth, recommended by Barbara Krauthamer

  • Read
    The Best Books for Juneteenth - Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915 by Mitch Kachun

    1

    Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808-1915
    by Mitch Kachun

  • Read
    The Best Books for Juneteenth - Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery by Barbara Krauthamer & Deborah Willis

    2

    Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery
    by Barbara Krauthamer & Deborah Willis

  • Read
    The Best Books for Juneteenth - Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South by Stephanie Camp

    3

    Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South
    by Stephanie Camp

  • Read
    The Best Books for Juneteenth - To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War by Tera Hunter

    4

    To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War
    by Tera Hunter

  • Read
    The Best Books for Juneteenth - A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Berry & Kali Gross

    5

    A Black Women's History of the United States
    by Daina Berry & Kali Gross

The Best Books for Juneteenth, recommended by Barbara Krauthamer

June 19th, or ‘Juneteenth,’ is a holiday commemorating the final end of slavery in the United States. Professor Barbara Krauthamer, a leading historian of African American slavery and emancipation, talks us through its significance down the decades and which books to read to get a better understanding of what it’s all about.

    African American History Books, recommended by Imani Perry

  • Read
    African American History Books - Black Reconstruction in America by WEB Du Bois

    1

    Black Reconstruction in America
    by WEB Du Bois

  • Read
    African American History Books - Exodus: Religion, Race and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America by Eddie S Glaude Jr

    2

    Exodus: Religion, Race and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America
    by Eddie S Glaude Jr

  • Read
    African American History Books - Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression by Robin D G Kelley

    3

    Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression
    by Robin D G Kelley

  • Read
    African American History Books - Hands on the Freedom of the Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC Faith S. Holsaert, Martha Prescod, and others (eds.)

    4

    Hands on the Freedom of the Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC
    Faith S. Holsaert, Martha Prescod, and others (eds.)

  • Read
    African American History Books - Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present by Nell Irvin Painter

    5

    Creating Black Americans: African-American History and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Present
    by Nell Irvin Painter

African American History Books, recommended by Imani Perry

Princeton Professor Imani Perry—a prolific scholar of African American Studies whose biography of Lorraine Hansberry, Looking For Lorraine,  won the 2019 PEN Biography Prize—recommends five books she considers essential to an understanding of the history of black life in America.

    The Best African American Literature, recommended by Farah Jasmine Griffin

  • Read
    The Best African American Literature - Cane by Jean Toomer

    1

    Cane
    by Jean Toomer

  • Read
    The Best African American Literature - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

    2

    Their Eyes Were Watching God
    by Zora Neale Hurston

  • Read
    The Best African American Literature - The Narrows by Ann Petry

    3

    The Narrows
    by Ann Petry

  • Read
    The Best African American Literature - Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

    4

    Invisible Man
    by Ralph Ellison

  • Read
    The Best African American Literature - Beloved by Toni Morrison

    5

    Beloved
    by Toni Morrison

The Best African American Literature, recommended by Farah Jasmine Griffin

An ever-growing body of authors are writing about the reality of what it means to be black in America, says Farah Jasmine Griffin, director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University. Here she recommends five works of African American literature, from greats like Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison to lesser-known gems by Ann Petry.

    Books on Black Icons for Children, recommended by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins

  • Read
    Books on Black Icons for Children - Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement by Carole Boston Weatherford & Euka Holmes

    1

    Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement
    by Carole Boston Weatherford & Euka Holmes

  • Read
    Books on Black Icons for Children - Josephine: A Dazzling Life by Christian Robinson & Patricia Hruby Powell

    2

    Josephine: A Dazzling Life
    by Christian Robinson & Patricia Hruby Powell

  • Read
    Books on Black Icons for Children - The Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison

    3

    The Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
    by Vashti Harrison

  • Read
    Books on Black Icons for Children - Firebird by Misty Copeland

    4

    Firebird
    by Misty Copeland

  • Read
    Books on Black Icons for Children - Life Doesn't Frighten Me by Jean-Michel Basquiat & Maya Angelou

    5

    Life Doesn't Frighten Me
    by Jean-Michel Basquiat & Maya Angelou

Books on Black Icons for Children, recommended by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins

Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins discuss books that that tell the stories of some of the greatest black icons in history – and explain why reading books that celebrate these extraordinary lives can be transformational for all children.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand interviews, or five thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

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