15 Essential Reads for Black History Month
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PublicityThursday, February 13, 2025
By Keshav Bansal and Shalra Azeem
February marks the celebration of Black History Month, a time to reflect on the incredible contributions, struggles, and triumphs of Black Americans throughout history. Through speeches, literature, and art, African American voices have reshaped the nation and continue to inspire movements for justice, equality, and identity. In this blog, we highlight titles that not only recount famously influential historical events and leaders during eras of civil rights and segregation but also seek to emphasize texts that uncover new histories of previously unrecognized activists, as well as highlight books that tackle current struggles and how to identify and eliminate injustices that still pervade today. From groundbreaking speeches to personal stories, we honor Black History Month through books that fully acknowledge leaders of the past while guiding us towards actions and advocacy for our future.
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Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African-American Women in the Civil Rights Movement by Janet Dewart Bell
In Lighting the Fires of Freedom, the stories of Myrlie Evers, Gloria Richardson, Kathleen Cleaver, Gay McDougall, Diane Nash, Judy Richardson, Aileen Hernandez, Leah Chase, and Dr. June Jackson Christmas are woven together to create a much-overdue testimony of the unrecognized female activists of the Civil Rights Movement. Janet Dewart Bell shines a light on these women’s struggles and achievements that resulted in profound social change.
“There is a memoir or autobiography in each of these women. But they are perhaps too modest to lift themselves up, which is why Bell’s book is so valuable.”
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Couvson
In this powerful indictment, Monique Couvson chronicles the experiences of Black girls across the country whose futures are left unsafe and unstable after being criminalized, degraded, and persecuted by the very institutions put in place to help them flourish. At a time when they are the fastest growing population in the juvenile system, Pushout is a call to action against the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy used against Black girls.
Monique Couvson is the president/CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color and co-founder of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute. In her upcoming book, Girls Unlimited, she makes a personal, compelling case for how investing in all girls leads to a better world for us all. Listen to Monique's interview on the Leonard Lopate Show.
Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
Named one of the Ten Best Essay Collections of the Decade by Literary Hub and one of the Must-Read Books of 2019 by TIME magazine, Thick is a bold and genre-busting collection. McMillan Cottom has crafted a black woman's cultural bible, as she mines for meaning in places many of us miss and reveals precisely how―when you're in the thick of it―the political, the social, and the personal are almost always one and the same. Read an excerpt from the book published in Zora.
Most Americans believe that slavery was a creature of the South, and that Northern states and territories provided stops on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. In this paradigm-shifting and award-winning book, celebrated historian Tiya Miles reveals that slavery was at the heart of the founding of one of America’s most iconic cities: Detroit. Miles complicates what we believe about the north as “free” territory and pieces together the experience of the unfree—both native and African American—in the frontier outpost of colonial Detroit, a place wildly remote in the view of Europeans yet at the center of national and international conflict.
Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South edited by William H. Chafe, Raymond Gavins, and Robert Korstad
Based on interviews collected by the Behind the Veil Project at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies, this groundbreaking work of African American oral history provides an unforgettable portrait of the Jim Crow South told through first-person accounts by those who lived through it. The result is a powerful story of individual and community survival and an important part of the American past that is crucial for us to remember.
Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation edited by Ira Berlin, Marc Favreau, and Steven F. Miller
The New Press originally published Remembering Slavery in 1998, a book-and-tape set that offered a startling first-person history of slavery. Using excerpts from the thousands of interviews conducted with ex-slaves in the 1930s by researchers working with the Federal Writers’ Project, the astonishing audiotapes made available the only known recordings of people who actually experienced enslavement—recordings that had gathered dust in the Library of Congress until they were rendered audible for the first time specifically for this set.
Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls by Monique Couvson
Morris may be best known for her work to end the school to confinement pathway, through her advocacy, and her book and documentary Pushout. Her new book, Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues is a groundbreaking and visionary call to action that brings together research and real life to empower educators, parents, students to transform schools into places where learning and collective healing can flourish. Read a review of this book in San Francisco Chronicle.
Free All Along: The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Interviews edited by Stephen Drury Smith and Catherine Ellis
In 1964, in the height of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and poet Robert Penn Warren set out with a tape recorder to interview leaders of the black freedom struggle. He spoke at length with luminaries such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Ralph Ellison, and Roy Wilkins, eliciting reflections and frank assessments of race in America and the possibilities for meaningful change. A year later, Penn Warren published Who Speaks for the Negro?, a probing narrative account of these conversations that blended his own reflections with brief excerpts and quotations from his interviews. Astonishingly, the full extent of the interviews remained in the background and were never published until this volume was published in 2019. Read an excerpt on Lit Hub.
Lift Every Voice: The NAACP and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement by Patricia Sullivan
A book that Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. called “the definitive history of the NAACP,” Lift Every Voice recounts the sweeping and dramatic stories of personal bravery, legal brilliance, and political maneuvering by the likes of W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Walter White, Charles Houston, Ella Baker, Thurgood Marshall, and Roy Wilkins.
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought edited by Briona Simone Jones
A sister anthology to Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s iconic Words of Fire, Mouths of Rain addresses pervasive issues such as misogynoir and anti-blackness while also attending to love, romance, “coming-out,” and the erotic. In this collection, Briona Simone Jones traces the contributions made by Black lesbian writers to feminist theory and activism, providing an intergenerational conversation of poems, songs, speeches, essays, and more. Contributions from Audre Lorde, Ma Rainey, Lucille Bogan, Cheryl Clarke, Barbara Smith, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Kai Davis, and more.
Read the essay “Mouths of Rain: Be Opened” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs from Mouths of Rain about the power of ancestral connections and the way stories can nourish future generations in Lit Hub.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
In this landmark book, Michelle Alexander argues that the racial caste system in America never ended–it was simply redesigned into today’s criminal justice system. Its publication in 2010 has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and continues to be read in classrooms across the country. The tenth anniversary edition includes an updated preface by author Michelle Alexander that looks back on the Book’s impact over the last decade.
Browse a curated selection of study and organizing guides for The New Jim Crow here.
Black Power 50 edited by: Sylviane A. Diouf, Komozi Woodard
With a foreword by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Black Power 50 is the fully illustrated companion to a major exhibit at New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. This sweeping fiftieth-anniversary retrospective offers a compelling look at Black Power, tracing its explosive emergence in 1966 and its lasting impact on the U.S. and beyond. Featuring original interviews with key figures, essays from leading scholars, and over one hundred stunning images, this book is a powerful introduction to the politics, culture, and global reach of the Black Power movement.
Read a review of Black Power 50 in The New York Times, where Rembert Browne says “Black Power 50 serves as an excellent textbook, one that not only covers all the bases but also dives into aspects of the movement that have received scarce attention.”
Say It Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches edited by Catherine Ellis and Stephen Drury Smith
Say It Plain brings together a century of public speeches by some of the most influential African American leaders, offering a vivid portrait of the Black freedom struggle. From Booker T. Washington’s 1895 speech to Julian Bond’s reflections on Brown v. Board in 2004, this collection includes powerful oratory from figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey, and Shirley Chisholm. Each speech is accompanied by an introduction that provides essential historical context, making this anthology a compelling record of the fight for racial justice and equality in America.
Paul Robeson: No One Can Silence Me: The Life of the Legendary Artist and Activist (Adapted for Young Adults) by Martin Duberman, with a foreword by Jason Reynolds
This young adult adaptation of Martin Duberman’s acclaimed biography of Paul Robeson highlights the life of the multifaceted artist, activist, and global icon. Robeson, a gifted performer and groundbreaking intellectual, rose from humble beginnings to challenge racism and inequality through his work on stage and his activism. Although celebrated for his talent, his outspoken political beliefs led to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. With an introduction by Jason Reynolds, Paul Robeson: No One Can Silence Me offers young readers a deeper look at Robeson’s courage, complexities, and enduring legacy in the fight for justice.
Read a Q&A interview with Martin Duberman in Kirkus Reviews about the YA edition.
Say It Loud: Great Speeches on Civil Rights and African American Identity edited by Catherine Ellis and Stephen Drury Smith
Say It Loud builds on the success of Say It Plain by offering an expanded collection of powerful speeches that delve deeper into the struggles for racial equality and civil rights in the United States. Featuring oratory from iconic figures like Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, and Colin Powell, this anthology spans four decades of the modern Black freedom movement. With many speeches previously unavailable in print, Say It Loud brings forward the complexity and urgency of Black Americans' quest for justice, offering both new insights and a deeper connection to the voices that shaped the fight for racial equality.
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Black History Month provides an important opportunity to reflect on the stories that have shaped America’s journey toward equality. Including transformative speeches, collections of cultural experiences, queer and feminist thought, biographies, and calls to action and healing, this list offers a holistic introduction into understanding the Black American experience throughout moments in history and the present. By reading and reflecting on these works, we not only honor the past but also commit to continuing the fight for justice and equality. As we celebrate Black History Month, the voices and narratives in these books remain as vital and inspiring as ever, urging us to carry their legacies forward as we confront our future.
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