Book Recommendations

These are important Black historical texts that are essential for any nuanced and productive conversation on Black history and Black futures. Hope you enjoy! Happy reading!!

**This list is living. Check back regularly for updates!!**

On Slavery

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass 

Brooding Over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women's Lethal Resistance by Nikki Taylor

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup

Ties that Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom by Tiya Miles 

The Coming by Daniel Black  

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward 

Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage by William Lorenz Katz 

History

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon Line to Understand the Soul of Nation by Imani Perry

On Black Identity

You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston ed. Henry Louis Gates and Genevieve West

We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance by Kellie Carter Jackson 

Resist: How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America by Rita Omokha

Black Feminist Thought 

Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought ed. Beverly Guy-Sheftall 

Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books by Stephanie Y Evans

On Music 

The Jazz of Physics by Stephon Alexander

Music is My Mistress by Duke Ellington

Brassroots Democracy by Benjamin Barson