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Black Lives Matter Book of the Week

162 Stories

Posted on: September 29, 2023

Black American Portraits

edited by Christine Y. Kim and Myrtle Elizabeth Andrews

Spanning over two centuries from around 1800 to the present day, Black American Portraits chronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. T...

Posted on: September 22, 2023

A Kids Book About Racism

by Jelani Memory

Jelani Memory is not only the author of A Kids Book About Racism, but also the founder and CEO of A Kids Co. As noted on the A Kids Co. website, his identity as a biracial father informed his decision to write A Kids Book About Racism in 2...

Posted on: September 15, 2023

Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson

by Ashley Brown

The dramatic victory of Coco Gauff at the U.S. Open this week makes this the perfect moment to reflect on the amazing life of Althea Gibson, the first Black woman sports superstar. Often compared to Jackie Robinson, Gibson dominated tennis ...

Posted on: September 8, 2023

The Getaway

by Lamar Giles

This YA dystopian horror novel will keep you on the edge of your seat. In a not-so-distant future, seventeen-year-old Jay has been living pretty comfortably, working at a live-in resort with family and friends. But from the outside world, th...

Posted on: September 1, 2023

Africana: More than 100 Recipes and Flavors Inspired by a Rich Continent

by Lerato Umah-Shaylor

This new cookbook travels across the continent showcasing its vibrant and varied cuisines that are rich in flavor, diverse in culture and steeped in tradition. A food writer and cook, Umah-Shaylor offers recipes passed down through g...

Posted on: August 25, 2023

J.D. and the Great Barber Battle

by J. Dillard

Readers who are starting to explore independent reading will have the chance root for an underdog character in the first book in this early chapter-book series. When Mom gives J.D. a terrible haircut the night before the first day of third gr...

Posted on: August 18, 2023

Birthing Liberation: How Reproductive Justice Can Set Us Free

by Sabia Wade

The author, a doula, explores the ways in which medical racism leads to high rates of perinatal and infant mortality. She reports on the causes of and effects of white supremacist structures that have led 4-5 times more Black than white women...

Posted on: August 11, 2023

Burn Down, Rise Up

by Vincent Tirado

A love letter to the Bronx that mixes horror with social commentary written by Vincent Tirado, a non-binary Afro-Latinx Bronx native. This title won the 2023 Pura Belpre award - an award named in honor of Pura Belpre, the first Latina lib...

Posted on: August 4, 2023

The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from “Do the Right Thing” to

by Ruth E. Carter

Movie lovers will rejoice over this new book by Ruth E. Carter, a living legend of costume design. For three decades, she has shaped the story of the Black experience on-screen - from the ’80s streetwear of “Do the Rig...

Posted on: July 28, 2023

Bold Words from Black Women: Inspiration and Truths from 50 Extraordinary Black Women ...

curated by Tamara Pizzoli; illustrated by Monica Ahanonu

This beautifully designed book invites readers to meet a range of inspirational Black women, both historic and contemporary, through their own inspirational words. Each full-page spread features a qu...

Posted on: July 21, 2023

How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill

edited by Jericho Brown

More than 30 acclaimed writers - including diverse voices such as Nikki Giovanni, David Omotosho Black, Natasha Trethewey, Barry Jenkins, Jacqueline Woodson, Tayari Jones, and Angela Flournoy - reflect on their experience and expert...

Posted on: July 14, 2023

Love Radio

by Dean Atta

Seventeen-year-old Prince has been giving out romantic advice on his radio show, but can he win over his long-time crush? She's agreed to give him three dates to try. This YA novel by LaDelle is a sweet coming-of-age story that does a...

Posted on: July 7, 2023

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden

by Camille T. Dungy

A mother, Black woman, and poet, Camille Dungy describes her seven-year struggle to transform her yard in the predominately white community of Fort Collins, Colorado, into a garden of herbs, vegetables, and flowers that benefit the envi...

Posted on: June 30, 2023

Bisa Butler - Portraits

edited by Erica Warren

Bisa Butler is an American artist known for her stunning portraits created entirely from fabrics that she layers and stitches together. Her works often depict scenes from African American life and history, and often contain African-p...

Posted on: June 23, 2023

Swim Team

by Johnnie Christmas

Swim Team is the debut kids graphic novel from author Johnnie Christmas, and it made a splash with recognition from the National Book Award and a 2023 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor. Bree and her father move from Brooklyn to Flor...

Posted on: June 16, 2023

Above Ground

by Clint Smith

In time for Father’s Day comes an outstanding collection of poetry by the author of the award-winning book How the Word Was Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America. His new poems focus on childhood, the meani...

Posted on: June 9, 2023

The Black Flamingo

by Dean Atta

In this 2019 debut YA novel-in-verse from Atta, we follow the story of a mixed-race, gay teen in London. We watch Michael blossom from a child who wants to own a beautiful barbie doll, to a young man who is learning to celebrate and embrace hi...

Posted on: June 2, 2023

Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad

by Matthew F. 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...

Posted on: May 26, 2023

A Day For Rememberin': Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day

by Leah Henderson; illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Inspired by a photo of a large group of Black children gathered, as if in preparation for a parade, author Leah Henderson explores the roots of Memorial Day in this fictionalized account. Originally celebrated...

Posted on: May 19, 2023

The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy...

by Chrissy King

When King first joined a gym, she fell into the all-too-common cycle of "not enough-ness": no matter what she achieves, there was always something she needed to change about her appearance. She came to understand that diet and fit...

Posted on: May 12, 2023

We Weren't Looking to Be Found

by Stephanie Kuehn

Author Stephanie Kuehn's background as a psychologist informs this YA novel with a mental health focus. The story alternates between two teen girls from very different circumstances who are both struggling. ALA Booklist reviews,...

Posted on: May 5, 2023

The Wounded World: W. E. B. Du Bois and the First World War

by Chad L. Williams

Historian Chad Williams tells the dramatic story of W. E. B. Du Bois' reckoning with the betrayal of Black soldiers during World War I - and a new understanding of one of the great twentieth-century writers. (Du Bois was also a...

Posted on: April 28, 2023

Freewater

by Amina Luqman Dawson

This powerful and fast-paced middle-grade work of historical fiction was the 2023 Newbury Award winner, a recognition that is especially impactful considering that this is author Amina Luqman Dawson's debut work for children...

Posted on: April 21, 2023

Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journey through American Slavery and Independence

by David Waldstreicher

The astonishing life of a great American poet and a fresh look at her work. The prodigy was stolen from her African family as a child and purchased by the Wheatley family in Boston in 1761. She was emancipated in 1773 and became a pu...

Posted on: April 14, 2023

We Are All So Good at Smiling

by Amber McBride

National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride is back with their second young adult novel in verse. Whimsy and Faerry are our two young protagonists, who reconnect as they remember and journey through their magical realities and some long-bur...

Posted on: April 7, 2023

Reparations Now! : Poems

by Ashley M. Jones

In honor of National Poetry Month, we have chosen a powerful and memorable collection by an award-winning poet. “Reparations Now! offers a diverse, complex collection of poems in response to historical and contemporary racism. ...

Posted on: March 31, 2023

Revolutionary Women: Fifty Women of Color Who Reinvented the Rules

by Ann Shen

Treat yourself to this celebration of women of color, centering women who have historically been sidelined. This beautifully illustrated volume celebrates the accomplishments of scores of incredible women. From dancers, actors, and singers to s...

Posted on: March 24, 2023

H is for Harlem

by Dinah Johnson; illustrated by April Harrison

Simultaneously a journey through history and a contemporary stroll through one of the most famous neighborhoods in America, H is For Harlem captures reader's interest by introducing some of the many ...

Posted on: March 17, 2023

The Education of Kendrick Perkins

by Kendrick Perkins

An intimate memoir from the former NBA player (Boston Celtics, 2003-2011) and outspoken cultural critic. At age eighteen, Kendrick Perkins left his grandparents' home in small-town Texas to join the NBA. Both on and off the cou...

Posted on: March 10, 2023

Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box

by Evette Dionne

This short-but-thorough YA nonfiction book (170 pages or a 5-hour audiobook) is a worthwhile read this month as we make a special effort to celebrate women's history. Published in 2020, the book starts off by reminding readers how...

Posted on: March 3, 2023

Love and Justice: A Story of Triumph on Two Different Courts

by Maya Moore Irons and Jonathan Irons; Foreword by Bryan Stevenson

An "inspirational" (Kirkus Reviews) tale about a WNBA star and a wrongfully convicted prisoner who after 23 years obtains his freedom with help from Maya. The athlete met Jonatha...

Posted on: February 24, 2023

Standing In the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual

by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Frank Morrison

Carole Boston Weatherford reinterprets this traditional hymn as a rhythmic meditation on Black history. Celebrating grace and dignity in the face of oppression, the lyrical text is accompanied by ...

Posted on: February 17, 2023

BLK ART: The Audacious Legacy of Black Artists and Models in Western Art

by Zaria Ware

In this “lively” and “rewarding” book [Library Journal], Zaria Ware offers a crash course in more than a thousand years of Black Western art history with more than 160 breathtaking images. Quietly held ...

Posted on: February 10, 2023

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute

by Talia Hibbert

This new YA release is by bestselling author Talia Hibbert, known for writing the popular Brown sisters trilogy. Ex-best friends Celine and Bradley must overcome their bruised feelings and academic rivalry to work together on a survival co...

Posted on: January 20, 2023

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom

by Ilyon Woo

Here is a gripping true story in time for Black History Month. The book recounts how Ellen and William Craft escaped slavery in Georgia through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled white man and Willia...

Posted on: January 27, 2023

Choosing Brave: Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett Till, and the Voice That Sparked the Civil Rights Movement

by Angela Joy; illustrated by Janelle Washington

This moving portrait of Mamie Till-Mobley depicts the courage of an individual whose strength in the face of terrible injustice galvanized the Civil Rights Movement. When her son, Emmett Till, was murdered i...

Posted on: January 20, 2023

Previously Owned

by Nathan McClain

Nathan McClain teaches at Hampshire College and is Poetry Editor of the Massachusetts Review. In his second poetry collection, he interrogates his speaker’s American heritage, history, and responsibility. Investigating myth, pop...

Posted on: January 13, 2023

The Upper World

by Femi Fadugba

This YA title is an exciting debut from Togolese British author Femi Fadugba. A physicist by profession, Fadugba wrote this time-travel thriller, set in south London, which adeptly mixes London slang and quantum physics. Told in a dual narr...

Posted on: January 6, 2023

The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family

by Kerri K. Greenidge

A stunning counternarrative of the legendary abolitionist Grimke sisters that finally reclaims the forgotten Black members of their family. Sarah and Angelina Grimke are revered figures in American history, famous for rejecting their ...

Posted on: December 30, 2022

AphroChic: Celebrating the Legacy of the Black Family Home

by Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason

Savor this interior design book featuring the stunning homes of those who have made significant contributions to Black American culture-from chef Alexander Smalls to Don Cheadle and Bridgid Coulter to Danielle Brooks. From a...

Posted on: December 23, 2022

The Real Santa

by Nancy Amanda Redd; illustrated by Charnelle Barlow Pinkney

A young Black boy prepares for Christmas, including his favorite tradition of adding to his collection of brown-skinned Santa Claus figurines. As festive preparations continue, the protagonist b...

Posted on: December 16, 2022

Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation

by Linda Villarosa

Chosen as one of the year’s top ten books by the New York Times, this critically important book lays bare the forces in the American health-care system and in American society that cause Black people to “live sicker a...

Posted on: December 9, 2022

How You Grow Wings

by Rimma Onoseta

This young adult novel explores the connection between two Nigerian sisters as they go down different paths. Sisters Cheta and Zam deal with complicated family circumstances and a strained relationship with a difficult mother. Neither path...

Posted on: December 2, 2022

The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times

by Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama offers a series of fresh stories and reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deepe...

Posted on: November 25, 2022

Magnolia Flower

by Zora Neale Hurston; adapted by Ibram X. Kendi; illustrated by Loveis Wise

Antiracist scholar Ibram X. Kendi has adapted a short story first published by Zora Neale Hurston in 1925 into a picture book folktale. Narrated by The Mighty River, as told to a ...

Posted on: November 18, 2022

Running while Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport that Wasn’t Built for Us

by Alison Mariella Désir

A searing exposé on the whiteness of running. Running saved Alison Désir's life. At rock bottom and searching for meaning and structure, Désir started marathon training, finding that it vastly improved both her physical and mental ...

Posted on: November 4, 2022

Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration

by Reuben Jonathan Miller

Reuben Jonathan Miller just received a MacArthur “Genius Award” for his work tracing the long-term consequences that incarceration and re-entry have on the lives of individuals and their families. In his recent...

Posted on: October 28, 2022

Root Magic

by Eden Royce

Eden Royce's debut novel is a page-turning middle grade horror story set in South Carolina in the 1960s. Beginning with the death of main character, Jezebel's beloved grandmother, readers are introduced to the traditions of the Gullah people ...

Posted on: October 21, 2022

My People: Five Decades of Writing about Black Lives

by Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an eminent Dean of American journalism, a vital voice whose work chronicled the civil rights movement and the many years since. Spanning datelines in the American South, South Africa, and points in betwee...

Posted on: October 14, 2022

Inheritance: A Visual Poem

by Elizabeth Acevedo; illustrated by Andrea Pippins

As we approach the end of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15), let's shine a light on Afro-Dominican author Elizabeth Acevedo. Acevedo is the author of The Poet X, which was the w...

Posted on: October 7, 2022

Against the Hounds of Hell: A Life of Howard Thurman

by Peter R. Eisenstadt

An inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr., and other civil rights leaders, Howard Thurman was a crucial figure in the history of African Americans in the twentieth century. This book offers a fascinating exploration of the life of thi...

Posted on: September 30, 2022

Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future

by Brandi Collins-Dexter

Who are Black skinheads? Brandi Collins-Dexter, a visiting fellow at the Harvard’s Kennedy School and media commentator, introduces readers to voters who gave up on the Democratic Party after Presidents Barack and Joe Bid...

Posted on: September 23, 2022

Raising Antiracist Children: A Practical Parenting Guide

by Britt Hawthorne with Natasha Yglesias

This timely guide stands out for its intersectional approach to parenting. Author Britt Hawthorne states in her introduction "Many of the parenting books out there focus on individualism-- in this book, I&a...

Posted on: September 16, 2022

We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power

by Caleb Gayle

In this largely forgotten chapter of American history, Gayle offers a fascinating look at racial dynamics within the Creek Nation, where for a long period of time, Blacks could become formally adopted and identified fully as Creeks. “Sharp c...

Posted on: September 9, 2022

The Hate U Give

by Angie Thomas

This 2017 YA debut from author Angie Thomas depicts a sixteen year old, Starr Carter, dealing with the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by the police. Starr has to navigate what it means to tell the truth about the incident while...

Posted on: September 2, 2022

My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir

by Katherine G. Johnson

The week of the planned launch of NASA’s Artemis I Mission seems an opportune time to promote a memoir by the brilliant mathematician Katherine Johnson. Published shortly after her death in 2020 at age 101, the memoir give...

Posted on: August 26, 2022

Hurricane Child

by Kacen Callender

Caroline is considered unlucky because she was born during a hurricane. She has lived her whole life on Water Island, and takes a water taxi every day to her school on St. Thomas (part of the US Virgin Islands). As a young child, she onc...

Posted on: August 19, 2022

Constructing a Nervous System: A Memoir

by Margo Jefferson

In her memoir Negroland, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Margo Jefferson wrote insightfully about her middle-class Black childhood in the 1950s and ‘60s. In this new memoir, she describes how she escaped the p...

Posted on: August 12, 2022

Kings of B'More

by R. Eric Thomas

Best friends Linus and Harrison are two queer black teens living in Baltimore that are both shook when Linus receives news that his family is moving to South Carolina. Harrison, in turn, plans an epic last day in honor of Linus and their ...

Posted on: August 5, 2022

Love & Justice: A Journey of Empowerment, Activism, and Embracing Black Beauty

by Laetitia Ky

Filled with beautiful color photographs, this book presents the personal story of artist and activist Laetitia Ky, known for sculpting her own hair to create powerful and joyful artwork that embraces the beauty of Black hair and style, the f...

Posted on: July 29, 2022

Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy

by Damien Lewis

Josephine Baker, American-born French dancer, singer, and actress, is well known as the first black woman to start in a major motion picture. This new book uncovers a little-known aspect of her life: working as a spy for the British during ...

Posted on: July 22, 2022

The Only Black Girls In Town

by Brandy Colbert

Alberta has been the only Black girl in her small town for years, so when Edie, another Black girl, and her family move in across the street, Alberta is excited to finally have a friend who will understand that important piece of her iden...

Posted on: July 15, 2022

Miss Chloe: A Memoir of a Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison

by A.J. Verdelle

A.J. Verdelle writes movingly about her more than two decades-long friendship with Chloe Ardelia Wofford, aka Toni Morrison. Thanks to Morrison’s efforts, Verdelle, then a young professor and novelist, was invited to teach at Pri...

Posted on: July 8, 2022

Planeta Blu: Rise of Agoo

by Tem Blessed; illustrated by Mike Lariccia

Planeta Blu is a graphic novel created by our own local Amherst talent, Tem Blessed. You might know Tem from their work empowering youth or as a socially conscious hip hop artist. Along with the lush creative ta...

Posted on: July 1, 2022

Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from across the African Diaspora

edited by Terry Bryant

James Beard – and NAACP Image Award – winning chef and food activist Terry Bryant presents a rich and fascinating look at the food, culture, history, and people of the African Diaspora, exploring its wide range ac...

Posted on: June 24, 2022

My Rainbow

by Trinity and DeShanna Neal; illustrated by Art Twink

My Rainbow is a touching and authentic story which centers a young Black transgender girl named Trinity, who wishes to have longer hair. She expresses to her mother that having longer hair would feel a...

Posted on: June 17, 2022

On Juneteenth

by Annette Gordon-Reed

Learn about our newest federal holiday, which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. The author, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, grew up both proudly African American and Texan, and her powerful book is a combinati...

Posted on: June 10, 2022

Troublemaker for Justice

by Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, and Michael G. Long

It's always the right time to learn more about our Queer Black leaders, but as we celebrate Pride this month, it is perhaps the ideal time to shine the light on the accomplishments of Bayar...

Posted on: June 3, 2022

The Black History Book

edited by Nemata Amelia Blyden

This illustrated celebration of Black history begins with prehistory and goes to the present. In it, readers will discover the rich and complex history of the peoples of Africa, and the struggles and triumphs of Black culture...

Posted on: May 27, 2022

Clean Getaway

by Nic Stone; illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile

When Scoob's grandmother shows up unexpectedly in an RV and invites him to go on an adventure together, he jumps at the chance to escape from his strict single father and recent grounding. But as the pa...

Posted on: May 20, 2022

Racism, Not Race: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

by Joseph L. Graves Jr. and Alan H. Goodman

In the wake of the massacre of Black Americans in Buffalo, we grieve and seek understanding. This new book offers a valuable place to start. The authors explain that the science on race is clear. Common categorie...

Posted on: May 13, 2022

Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard

by Echo Brown

Steeped in magical realism and Matrix references, this first-person narrative tells the story of author Echo Brown's own girlhood in Cleveland. Echo struggles to survive some truly difficult circumstances, like poverty, depression, s...

Posted on: May 6, 2022

Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families...

by Dorothy E. Roberts

An award-winning scholar exposes the foundational racism of the child welfare system and calls for radical change. Many believe the child welfare system protects children from abuse. But as Torn Apart uncovers, this system is designed...

Posted on: April 29, 2022

Finding Me

by Viola Davis

The first African American actress to achieve an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two Tony Awards, the "triple crown of acting," Viola Davis has written a candid and inspiring memoir. From her coming of age in Rhode Island to her hard-w...

Posted on: April 22, 2022

The Me I Choose To Be

by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley; art by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt

There is much to admire about this gorgeous, affirming picture book, but the photographic illustrations make it feel truly unique and timely. Regis and Kahran Bethencourt, illustrators of Th...

Posted on: April 15, 2022

White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret

by A. J. Baime

A much-needed new biography of an exceptionally courageous civil rights leader who is too little known today. Walter F. White led two lives: one as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and the NAACP in the early twentieth century; the other as...

Posted on: April 8, 2022

Me (Moth)

by Amber McBride

This debut YA novel in verse by Amber McBride was just a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, as well as the Morris Award for new authors. Moth is a teenaged girl, broken and grieving the deaths...

Posted on: April 1, 2022

Black Joy: Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Restoration

by Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts

A heart-warming book that demonstrates the importance of finding personal joy, even in lives that may be plagued by trauma. The author shows that Black joy is a powerful resource to be drawn upon. She shows how t...

Posted on: March 25, 2022

This Book Is Feminist: An Intersectional Primer for Next-gen Changemakers

by Jamia Wilson, illustrated by Aurélia Durand

Fans of Tiffany Jewell's This Book is Anti-Racist may recognize the look and feel of this accessible guide to feminism. Author Jamia Wilson is an activist, writer, speaker, pod-caster, and ...

Posted on: March 18, 2022

Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution

by Elie Mystal

Elie Mystal, lawyer, analyst at MSNBC, and legal editor at The Nation, argues that Republicans are wrong when they tell you the First Amendment allows religious fundamentalists to discriminate against gay people who like cake. They're wrong ...

Posted on: March 11, 2022

Feminist AF: a Guide to Crushing Girlhood

by Brittney Cooper, Chanel Craft Tanner, and Susana Morris

This is a book I wish had existed when I was a teenager. Written by three Black women who are members of the Crunk Feminist Collective, this guide to crushing girlhood is a fun and relevant way to ...

Posted on: March 4, 2022

Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South

by Winfred Rembert; foreword by Bryan Stephenson

The art is this stunning book depicts vivid scenes from the cotton fields and chain gangs of the segregated south to the churches and night clubs of the urban north as it tells of a self-taught artist&ap...

Posted on: February 25, 2022

Recognize!: An Anthology Honoring and Amplifying Black Life

by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson

From the stunning cover art to the accessible length of the pieces included in this anthology, Recognize! draws readers into a rich portrait of what it means to be Black in America. As editors Wade Hudson and Cheryl ...

Posted on: February 18, 2022

How to Make a Slave and Other Essays

by Jerald Walker

How does a Black professor at a mostly white liberal arts college in Massachusetts experience and confront racism at work and in the community? Our selection for the 2022 On the Same Page Amherst community reading program - How to Make a S...

Posted on: February 11, 2022

Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip Hop History

by Jeff Chang and Davey D

Jeff Chang's award-winning 2005 history of hip hop has recently been remixed for a young adult audience. Trimmed down in half from its hefty 600 pages, the history has been updated to include the Black Lives Matter moveme...

Posted on: February 4, 2022

Angela Davis: An Autobiography

by Angela Davis

Angela Davis has been a political activist at the cutting edge of the Black Liberation, feminist, queer, and prison abolitionist movements. First published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974, An Autobiography is a powerful and commanding a...

Posted on: January 28, 2022

One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance

by Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes was recently named the recipient of the 2022 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Author of over 77 books for young people, her works include poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. We love so many of h...

Posted on: January 21, 2022

Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant's Search...

by Gayle Jessup White

A Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson tells how her family's "secret" - carried for generations - was, through her efforts, proven and acknowledged by the wider world, including the historic Monticello site. She th...

Posted on: January 14, 2022

Black Birds in the Sky

by Brandy Colbert

The Tulsa race massacre, which took place one hundred years ago in 1921, is a part of our American history that has escaped widespread attention until recently. After watching the pilot episode of HBO's Watchmen, which starts out...

Posted on: January 7, 2022

Our African Unconscious: The Black Origins of Mysticism and Psychology

by Edward Bruce Bynum

This third edition demonstrates how all modern human beings, regardless of ethnic or racial categorizations, share a common deeper identity, both psychically and genetically - a primordial African unconscious. Edward Bruce Bynum, Ph.D...

Posted on: December 24, 2021

The People Remember

by Ibi Zoboi; illustrated by Loveis Wise

Poetic text by National Book Award Finalist Ibi Zoboi and expansive art by Loveis Wise bring the seven principles of Kwanzaa to life in The People Remember. Honoring the oral tradition of Black history being passed ...

Posted on: December 17, 2021

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery across America

by Clint Smith

The New York Times has just named this book to their list of the top ten books of 2021. We strongly agree with their choice; Americans urgently need to reckon with the legacy of slavery and with the many monuments to our slave-holding past. ...

Posted on: December 10, 2021

A Song Below Water

by Bethany C. Morrow

Set in Portland, Oregon, this young adult novel centers on 16 year old Tavia and her best friend, Effie. Tavia and Effie are both Black girls and have to deal with normal high school things like exes and classmate rivalries. But Tavia ...

Posted on: December 3, 2021

The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth

by Kristin Henning

Drawing upon 25 years of experience representing Black youth in Washington D.C.'s juvenile court, attorney Kris Henning confronts America's irrational, manufactured fears of Black youth and clearly shows that they recei...

Posted on: November 26, 2021

Molly of Denali: Party Moose

based on a television episode written by Kathy Waugh

This beginner-reader, based on the popular PBS Kids show, features an Alaskan Native kid named Molly. Molly is joined by her best friends Trini and Tooey on many adventures in beautiful Alaska. They are ...

Posted on: November 19, 2021

We Were There: The Third World Women’s Alliance and the Second Wave

by Patricia Romney

Congratulations to local author Patricia Romney, whose new book has received glowing advance reviews. From 1970 to 1980, the Third World Women’s Alliance was one of the earliest groups advocating for what came to be known as in...

Posted on: November 12, 2021

Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask

by Anton Treuer

In our antiracist efforts to dismantle white supremacy, we have to also look at this country's relationship with its Indigenous communities. Both Black and Indigenous people have suffered under white-led systems of power for centur...

Posted on: November 5, 2021

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature

by Farah Jasmine Griffin

Anyone who loves the works of the acclaimed writer Toni Morrison will savor this account by Farah Jasmine Griffin of how she found her father and herself through rereading Morrison’s books. Griffin’s beloved fat...

Posted on: October 29, 2021

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism

by Safiya Umoja Noble

Safiya Umoja Noble was selected in September as one of this year’s MacArthur (Genius) Award winners for her important work about the harm being done to society by search engines. Google and similar online tools may look neut...

Posted on: October 22, 2021

White Smoke

by Tiffany Jackson

Need a spooky read to get you in the mood for Halloween? Tiffany Jackson's latest young adult novel White Smoke will do the trick. High schooler Mari is not pleased that her family uprooted from California and moved her to some ...

Posted on: October 15, 2021

Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority

by Nicole Hodges Persley and Monica White Ndounou

Racism is present in all types of employment, including acting. Here is an acting guide specifically for people who are nonwhite. The authors’ practical advice focuses on stage audition skills but...

Posted on: October 8, 2021

Sprouting Wings: The True Story of James Herman Banning

by Louisa Jaggar & Shari Becker, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

This engaging picture book biography tells the story of James Herman Banning, the first African American pilot to complete a flight across the country in 1932. Captivated by flight from child...

Posted on: October 1, 2021

You Can Keep that to Yourself: A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Int

by Adam Smyer

The title tells the reader all they need to know about this short little book: it is direct, it does not mince words, it is humorous while being about a deadly serious topic. Words and phrases—from “Ally” to &...

Posted on: September 24, 2021

The Parker Inheritance

by Varian Johnson

Varian Johnson's The Parker Inheritance is a masterpiece of a middle grade novel wrapping mystery, history, friendship, and family into one seamless narrative. Beginning with a simple premise - a summer, two friends, and the trea...

Posted on: September 17, 2021

All that She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

by Tiya Miles

The story behind this heart-breaking book began when Rose, an enslaved woman in 1850s South Carolina, gave her young daughter, Ashley, a sack containing among other items a braid of hair and a handful of pecans on the eve of Ashley's...

Posted on: September 10, 2021

Long Way Down

by Jason Reynolds

Last year, Jason Reynolds adapted his award-winning young adult novel in verse into a graphic novel beautifully illustrated by Danica Novgordoff. This short but powerful story takes you on an elevator ride down filled with ghosts and diff...

Posted on: September 3, 2021

We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy

by Natalie Baszile

Harvest season is a good time to explore Black people’s connection to the land, and this beautiful volume does just that, covering the years from Emancipation to the present. In the 1920s, there were over one million black farm...

Posted on: August 27, 2021

The King of Kindergarten

by Derrick Barnes illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Whether you're feeling excited, anxious, curious (or all three at once!) this empowering first day of school picture book will give readers a boost of confidence. From the moment he wakes up on the f...

Posted on: August 20, 2021

The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred

by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is one of the leading physicists of her generation, at work on the origins of spacetime at the intersection of particle physics and astrophysics. She is also one of the fewer than one hundred Black w...

Posted on: August 13, 2021

Blackout

by Dhonielle Clayton, et al.

This YA collection of short stories written by YA superstars such as Angie Thomas, Tiffany Jackson, Nic Stone, and Nicola Yoon is super charming. The stories sweetly entangle during a NYC summer heatwave as 6 pairs of Black tee...

Posted on: August 6, 2021

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism

by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

This charming and hilarious sister duo take on the challenging topic of racism. Older sister Lacey Lamar lives in Omaha; her younger sibling Amber left their hometown to become a comedy writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers...

Posted on: July 30, 2021

One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race

by Yaba Blay

For generations in this country, a black person has been commonly recognized as someone with any known Black ancestry, the “one-drop rule.” This beautiful book explores whether the social and political landscape has changed in recent times. Si...

Posted on: July 23, 2021

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole In the Sky

by Kwame Mbalia

If you're seeking a page-turning adventure perfect for summer reading, look no further than Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia. From the eye-catching cover to the final page, the story of relatable protagonist...

Posted on: July 16, 2021

Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir

by Kwame Onwuachi

In 2019, Kwame Onwuachi received much praise for his food. Food & Wine magazine named him one of its Best New Chefs, the James Beard Awards christened him Rising Star Chef of the Year, and Esquire chose him as Chef of the Year, identi...

Posted on: July 9, 2021

A Blade So Black

by L.L. McKinney

There just aren't many fantasy books with Black kids in them, so I was so psyched to stumble upon the wonderful Nightmare-Verse series. It's an urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland with some serious Buffy the Va...

Posted on: July 2, 2021

Better Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice

by Yusef Salaam

Yusef Salaam was only 15 years old in 1989 when he and four other teens were falsely accused of the brutal rape of a Central Park jogger. He was imprisoned for seven years, but the Central Park Five were not exonerated until 2002 when one o...

Posted on: June 25, 2021

When Aidan Became a Brother

by Kyle Lukoff; illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

This 2020 Stonewall Award Winner is about so much more than Aidan's journey of identity. "When Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl....But Aidan didn't feel like any kind of gi...

Posted on: June 17, 2021

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir

by Saeed Jones

During Pride Month, we celebrate great memoirs like this one by a highly regarded poet who was raised in the South by a single mother. In a home where sexuality was never discussed, Saeed Jones struggled to understand what it meant to be gay...

Posted on: June 11, 2021

All Boys Aren't Blue

by George Johnson

This 2020 memoir manifesto is the perfect coming-of-age read to celebrate pride this month. Johnson explores the meaning of blackness, queerness, and toxic masculinity and he does so with honesty and vulnerability. His casual narrative vo...

Posted on: June 4, 2021

Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice

by Scott Ellsworth

This new book is described as the definitive history of the Tulsa Race Massacre, which occurred a century ago. The author has been researching the tragedy for decades, and in recent years served on the city’s reckoning commissi...

Posted on: May 28, 2021

Our Skin: A First Conversation about Race

by Megan Madison & Jessica Ralli; art by Isabel Roxas

Research has shown that children begin recognizing race a few months after birth, and that talking about issues like race and gender from the age of two helps children understand what they see, incr...

Posted on: May 21, 2021

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

by Isabel Wilkerson

Caste is, in the words of National Public Radio, “a profound achievement of scholarship and research that stands also as a triumph of both visceral storytelling and cogent analysis.” Isabel Wilkerson, the acclaimed a...

Posted on: May 14, 2021

Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity

by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi

Tell Me Who You Are is a wonderful collection of stories gathered by two teens on their gap year before college. They traveled around the country and asked people how race, culture, and intersectionality had impacted their li...

Posted on: May 7, 2021

Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir

by Rebecca Carroll

Everyone interested in transracial adoption would be wise to read this new memoir. The author, a black cultural critic, recounts her story of being adopted as a young child by a white family from rural New Hampshire. She was raised in an...

Posted on: April 30, 2021

The History of the Black Population of Amherst, Massachusetts, 1728-1870

by James Avery Smith

Once only available to those visiting our Special Collections, this important book, published in 1999 by the New England Genealogical Society, can now be borrowed and read at home. Using tax lists, probate and land records, town record...

Posted on: April 23, 2021

Parenting for Liberation: A Guide for Raising Black Children

by Trina Greene Brown

Parenting For Liberation was launched as a virtual platform in 2016 by activist-mama Trina Greene Brown. In her introduction to this guidebook she states that the blog and podcast were created to "...connect, inspire, and uplift ...

Posted on: April 16, 2021

Age of Phillis

by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

For National Poetry Month, we are pleased to highlight this volume of poetry written about Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Award-winning poet Jeffers spent fifteen years research...

Posted on: April 9, 2021

Every Body Looking

by Candice Iloh

This young adult novel in verse is the #ownvoices debut from Candice Iloh, a first-generation Nigerian-American author. It's a poetic coming-of-age story that deals with some heavy themes like the protagonist's complicated...

Posted on: April 2, 2021

Julian Bond’s Time to Teach: A History of the Southern Civil Rights Movement

by Julian Bond

How lucky were the students at Harvard and other American universities who were able to take a class with Julian Bond. Along with being a famed civil rights activist, author, chairman of the NAACP, and Georgia state representative and senato...

Posted on: March 26, 2021

Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life

by Ashley Bryan

Based on an original estate-appraisal document from 1828, Ashley Bryan's poetry gives voices to 11 enslaved individuals, imagining not only their daily lives but their hopes for the future. While the document that inspired these po...

Posted on: March 19, 2021

Grieving while Black: An Antiracist Take on Oppression and Sorrow

by Breeshia Wade

The author, a Black end-of-life caregiver and chaplain, looks at the significance of grief to Black people. In particular she connects sorrow to the ongoing trauma of systemic racism. She encourages readers to attend to their grief so that...

Posted on: March 12, 2021

Concrete Rose

by Angie Thomas

Concrete Rose is the prequel to the number one New York Times best-seller, The Hate U Give. Set 17 years in the past, it follows Starr's father, Maverick, as he navigates growing up while raising an infant son and having to make di...

Posted on: March 5, 2021

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song

by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Distinguished scholar Henry Louis Gates offers a history of the Black church in America, showing it to be "the Black community's abiding rock and fortress." Gates powerfully demonstrates that the church was a so...

Posted on: February 25, 2021

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

This bestseller marks a milestone in the study of African American history. It is the result of research conducted for the Four Hundred Souls project, spearheaded by National Book Award-winning historian Ibram X...

Posted on: February 18, 2021

The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read

by Rita L. Hubbard; illustrated by Oge Mora

This picture book biography tells the inspiring story of Mary Walker, who learned to read at the age of 116. Born enslaved in 1848, Walker was emancipated as a teenager, and was gifted a Bible that she longed to ...

Posted on: February 10, 2021

Bingo Love

by Tee Franklin; artwork by Jenn St-Onge

If you're looking for the perfect book to read in honor of St. Valentine's Day, check out the young adult graphic novel Bingo Love which is a joyful celebration of Black queer love and an inspiring...

Posted on: February 3, 2021

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies

by Resmaa Menakem

Resmaa Menakem approaches the problem of racism from his perspective as a therapist. He explains that racism is embedded in the bodies of blacks and whites in this country. Blacks experience everyday threats and respond by fighting, fleei...

Posted on: January 26, 2021

Do Lord Remember Me

by Julius Lester

On what would have been his 82nd birthday, we celebrate a distinguished Amherst author, civil rights activist, professor, musician, and photographer. Julius Lester wrote 31 award-winning children’s books as well as nonfiction and fiction f...

Posted on: January 8, 2021

The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature

by J. Drew Lanham

In honor of National Bird Day (January 5), we have chosen a remarkable memoir published in 2016 by an African-American birder and naturalist. The Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University, J. Drew Lanham has writte...

Posted on: January 7, 2021

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America

edited by Ibi Zoboi

This 2019 anthology of young adult short stories is a wonderful offering of modern Black voices. Featuring 16 excellent Black authors such as Nic Stone and Jason Reynolds, my favorite part of reading this was the diversity of stories to...

Posted on: December 28, 2020

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

by Les Payne and Tamara Payne

This highly acclaimed new book is winner of the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Les Payne, the renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist, embarked in 1990 on a nearly thirty-year-long quest to interview...

Posted on: December 15, 2020

You Can Keep That to Yourself

A Comprehensive List of What Not to Say to Black People, for Well-Intentioned People of Pallor by Adam Smyer

How do you write something humorous about racism in America? If you are Adam Smyer, an attorney, martial artist, and mediocre bass player,...

Posted on: December 15, 2020

King and the Dragonflies

by Kacen Callender

This bittersweet middle grade book takes us to the bayous of small town Louisiana where homophobia and racism are very real things that twelve year old Kingston James must deal with. Mourning the sudden death of his older brother, King s...

Posted on: December 1, 2020

The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir

by Michele Harper

The author of this eloquent memoir is an ER doctor and a practitioner of yoga and meditation. Here she recounts how she overcame racist colleagues, a background of domestic violence, and the trauma of seeing suffering people every day at ...

Posted on: November 20, 2020

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey

by Kamala D. Harris

The results of the presidential election are now acknowledged by most Americans, and for the first time a woman of color was on the winning ticket! Kamala Harris, the daughter of an economist from Jamaica and a cancer researcher from In...

Posted on: November 20, 2020

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz; adapted by Jean Mendoza & Debbie Reese

In our antiracist efforts to dismantle white supremacy, we have to also look at this country's relationship with its Indigenous communities. Both Black and Indigenous people have suffered ...

Posted on: November 4, 2020

Race after Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code

by Ruha Benjamin

An African American Studies scholar turns a bright light on technology, illuminating how racism and inequality underpin its newest creations. From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Ruha Benjamin cuts through tech-industry hype to unders...

Posted on: October 29, 2020

From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century

by William A. Darity, Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen

Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every turn. William Darity, an economist at Duke University and an Amherst native, and folklorist Kirsten Mullen toge...

Posted on: October 14, 2020

The City We Became

by N. K. Jemisin

Congratulations to N. K. Jemisin for being named one of this year’s MacArthur “geniuses!” The MacArthur Foundation describes her as “a speculative fiction writer exploring deeply human questions about structural racism, environmental crise...

Posted on: October 13, 2020

Dread Nation

by Justina Ireland

This 2018 young adult historical fiction by Justina Ireland is the perfect spooky October read to get you in the mood for Halloween. Why? Because there are zombies! Zombies! Set just after the Civil War, this is a fun and action-packed s...

Posted on: September 29, 2020

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land

by Leah Penniman

At a time when Americans are closely examining all aspects of our society for racism, those of us interested in food issues would do well to start with this remarkable book. Author Leah Penniman, the 2019 recipient of the James Beard Found...

Posted on: September 25, 2020

Say Her Name

by Zetta Elliott; illustrated by Loveis Wise

Turn to the Acknowledgements section in the final pages of this short 100 page collection of poetry-activism and you will see that the author knowingly divines that there will be more black women to mourn and re...

Posted on: September 16, 2020

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All

by Martha S. Jones

According to conventional wisdom, American women’s campaign for the vote began with the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this women’s movement was an overwhelmingly ...

Posted on: September 11, 2020

Towers Falling

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Fifth grade student Dèja is starting the year at a new school in Brooklyn after her family moves into a shelter. Although the first day is filled with challenges, it is also filled with promise: a teacher who connects to her student...

Posted on: September 11, 2020

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir

by Natasha Trethewey

Natasha Trethewey is a former U.S. Poet Laureate and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She earned her M.F.A. at UMass Amherst. Memorial Drive is her first book that is not poetry. This memoir was written because, in the aut...

Posted on: August 28, 2020

One Crazy Summer (One Crazy Summer Series, Book 1)

by Rita Garcia Williams

One Crazy Summer follows the three Gaither sisters as they travel from Brooklyn to Oakland in the summer of 1968, where they hope to get to know the mother who left them. Delphine, the oldest sister, takes on many roles in her famil...

Posted on: August 21, 2020

Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson

Brother Robert by Annye C. Anderson - An intimate memoir by blues legend Robert Johnson’s stepsister

by Annye C. Anderson with Preston Lauterbach; foreword by Elijah Wald

We are excited to offer this new weekly feature and to share a wide array of books about Black lives in America. It seems appropriate to begin with a new book by a well-known Amherst res...

Posted on: August 21, 2020

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America

by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Jamey Christoph

This picture book biography introduces readers to the life and work of multi-talented artist Gordon Parks. It traces Parks’ path to becoming one of the most important photographers of the 20th ce...

Posted on: August 21, 2020

March: Book 1, 2, and 3

by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; illustrated by Nate Powell

The nation is mourning the death of a civil rights hero and “conscience of the Congress,” Representative John Lewis. Adults and young adults wanting to know more about Lewis and the civil rights mo...

Posted on: August 21, 2020

This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope

by Shayla Lawson

Writing in a fierce and humorous voice, Shayla Lawson provides a memoir in essays that is also a celebration of black women’s lives and culture. She knows the richness and resilience of black girl culture (its irony and rebellion!) and the...

Posted on: August 21, 2020

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

In this 2020 YA remix of Ibram X. Kendi’s work (2016’s Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America), Jason Reynolds is quick to point out that this isn’t a history book. That said, he d...

Posted on: August 21, 2020

Horace Pippin, American Modern

by Anne Monahan

Horace Pippin, sometimes described as an American Henri Rousseau, was a disabled veteran (WWI) without formal art training who began painting in his 40s and soon became famous in the art world. His works depict WWI, black families, Abraham ...

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