These works of history writing range from sweeping sagas to in-depth examinations of single events. From slavery and the impact of racist ideas on the formation of the United States, through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement, to the impact in the present day of mass incarceration and policing on Black communities, these titles provide context for the Black lived experience, the way it has changed over decades and centuries, and the through lines that continue to resonate.
Explore everything the Library has to offer for Black History Month, and discover more recommended reads with the Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List.
Some of these titles are also available in accessible formats including talking books (DB), braille (BR), and through Bookshare (BK), as indicated below. See The New York Public Library's Andrew Heiskell Library for more information.
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"
by Zora Neale Hurston
Accessible editions: BR | DB | BK
Barracoon is a long unpublished work by Hurston that illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery through the true story of one of the last known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade, Cudjo Lewis, who was abducted from Africa on the last "Black Cargo" ship to arrive in the United States.
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America
by Gilbert King
King chronicles a little-known court case in which Thurgood Marshall successfully saved a Black citrus worker from the electric chair after the worker was accused of raping a white woman with three other Black men.
March: Book, One, Two & Three
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
This revelatory account of the actions taken by the first president to retain his slaves in spite of Northern laws profiles one of George Washington’s slaves, Ona Judge, describing the intense manhunt that ensued when she ran away.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander
World languages: Español
In a bestselling work of nonfiction, Alexander argues that the War on Drugs and policies that deny convicted felons equal access to employment, housing, education, and public benefits create a permanent under-caste based largely on race.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
by Ibram X. Kendi
This history of anti-Black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists, and between racists and anti-racists.
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow
by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
A chronicle of America's post-Civil War struggle for racial equality and the violent counterrevolution that resubjugated Black Americans throughout the twentieth century.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
by Isabel Wilkerson
World languages: 中文
An epic history covering the period from the end of World War I through the 1970s chronicles the decades-long migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West through the stories of three individuals and their families.
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval
by Saidiya Hartman
Hartman traces a lesser-known time of radical transformation of Black life in early-twentieth-century America, revealing how a large number of Black women forged relationships, families, and jobs that were more empowered and often indifferent to social dictates.
Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
by David Zucchino
Zucchino’s book documents the events of the 1898 Wilmington Insurrection and its unrecognized role in reversing the city's mixed-race advances, overthrowing local government, and promoting white-supremacist agendas.
Discover Black History Month at NYPL
Browse book recommendations, the Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List, more than 100 free events, blog posts, research resources, and more as part of the Library’s Black History Month celebrations.