Black history month's book list

Honoring black individuals

For Black History month, what a better way to celebrate black individuals contribution to society than by picking up a good book?

After all, to read about others experiences is to live more than once!

This month, we challenge you to a bingo word list. Click a word, or words, to find the books that most speak to you.

Fiction

Engaging: Carolina Built: a novel by Kianna Alexander

Describes the life of real estate magnate Josephine N. Leary, a freed plantation slave who taught herself how to be a business woman, manage her finances, make smart investments and to ultimately become a successful entrepreneur.

Genre: African American fiction; Biographical fiction; First person narratives; Historical fiction

LGBTQIA: The sleeping car porter by Suzette Mayr

Baxter’s name isn’t George. But it’s 1929, and Baxter is lucky enough, as a Black man, to have a job as a sleeping car porter on a train. So when the passengers call him George, he has to just smile and nod and act invisible. What he really wants is to go to dentistry school, but he’ll have to save up to get there, so he puts up with “George.” On this particular trip, the passengers are more unruly than usual; their secrets start to leak out and blur with the sleep-deprivation hallucinations Baxter is having. When he finds a naughty postcard of two gay men, Baxter’s memories and longings are reawakened; keeping it puts his job in peril.

Genre: Canadian fiction; Historical fiction; Literary fiction 

Gritty: Harlem shuffle by Colson Whitehead

A furniture salesman in 1960s Harlem becomes a fence for shady cops, local gangsters and low-life pornographers after his cousin involves him in a failed heist in the new novel from the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad.

Genre: African American fiction; Book club best bets; Crime fiction; Historical fiction; Literary fiction

Heart wrenching:  The prophets : a novel by Robert Jones

Two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation find refuge in each other while transforming a quiet shed into a haven for their fellow slaves, before an enslaved preacher declares their bond sinful.

Genre: African American fiction; Book club best bets; Historical fiction; LGBTQIA fiction; Literary fiction

Moving: Sankofa : a novel by Chibundu Onuzo

When Anna, wondering who she really is, discovers that the African father she never knew is still alive, she embarks on a journey to a small nation in West Africa where she searches for her family’s hidden roots.

Genre: Book club best bets; Literary fiction

Facing racism: The rib king : a novel by Ladee Hubbard

Exploited by the white family that took him in as a servant 15 years earlier, a Black orphan becomes tragically enraged by how his employers mindlessly profit from the talents of a hired Black cook.

Genre: African American fiction; Historical fiction; Literary fiction

Historical fiction: A woman of endurance : a novel by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

A novel illuminates a little discussed aspect of history--the Puerto Rican Atlantic Slave Trade--witnessed through the experiences of Pola, an African captive used as a breeder to bear more slaves.

Genre: Historical fiction

Race in America: We are not like them : a novel by Christine Pride

Riley and Jen have been best friends since they were children. It never mattered to them that Riley is black and Jen is white, and as adults, they remain as close as sisters. Jen is married and pregnant, while Riley is a television journalist poised to become one of the first Black female anchors in Philadelphia. But when Jen's city police officer husband is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager, Jen's friendship with Riley is thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

Genre: African American fiction; Book club best bets; Literary fiction; Multiple perspectives

Musical read: The final revival of Opal & Nev : a novel by Dawnie Walton

Accepting a contract from a fledgling record company, a talented music artist in early 1970s New York endures racist responses to her activism, before a reunion interview decades later reveals explosive secrets.

Genre: African American fiction; Book club best bets; Debut title; Literary fiction

Coming-of-age: Finding Edward by Sheila Murray

Cyril Rowntree migrates from Jamaica to Canada, arrives in Toronto, and sets about earning a degree. A chance encounter leads him to a suitcase full of photographs and letters dating back to the early 1920s. Cyril is drawn into the letters and their story of a white mother's struggle to come to terms with the need to give up her mixed-race baby, Edward. Abandoned by his white father as a small child, Cyril feels a compelling connection to the boy and begins to look for the rest of Edward's story. As he searches, Cyril unearths hidden pieces of Canadian history and gradually gains the confidence to trust his own judgment.

Genre: Canadian fiction; Coming-of-age stories; Literary fiction

Non-Fiction

Sobering: His name is George Floyd : one man's life and the struggle for racial justice by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa

The events of that day are now tragically familiar: on May 25, 2020, George Floyd became the latest Black person to die at the hands of the police, murdered outside of a Minneapolis convenience store by white officer Derek Chauvin. The video recording of his death set off a series of protests in the United States and around the world, awakening millions to the dire need for reimagining this country’s broken systems of policing...

Genre: Life stories; Society and culture

Candid: Invisible boy : a memoir of self-discovery by Harrison Moone

An award-winning writer and journalist recounts being adopted in a white Christian fundamentalist family and his experiences in a radical and racist right-wing bubble along the U.S. border in Canada's Bible Belt.

Genre: Autobiographies and memoirs; Life stories

Brutality: The Trayvon generation by Elizabeth Alexander

Originally published in the New Yorker, one of the great literary voices of our time shares her celebrated and moving reflection on the challenges facing young Black America, illuminating our nation's unresolved problem with race.

Genre:Society and culture

Biography

Compelling: Finding me by Viola Davis

A noted actress's memoir, in her own words, spans her incredible, inspiring life, from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present day.

Genre: Arts and Entertainment; Autobiographies and memoirs; Biographies; Book club best bets; Life stories

Spirited: Just as I am : a memoir by Cicely Tyson

The Academy, Tony, and three-time Emmy Award-winning actor and trailblazer tells her stunning story, looking back at her six-decade career and life.

Genre: Arts and Entertainment; Autobiographies and memoirs; Life stories

Impassioned: Unprotected : a memoir by Billy Porter

Before Billy Porter was an acclaimed recording artist, actor, playwright, and director, he was a young boy in Pittsburgh who was seen as different, who didn't fit in. At five years old, Porter was sent to therapy to "fix" his effeminacy. He was endlessly bullied at school, sexually abused by his stepfather, and criticized at his church. Porter came of age in a world where simply being himself was a constant struggle. This is the story of a young man whose unbreakable determination led him through countless hard times to where he is now: a proud icon who refuses to back down or hide.

Genre: Arts and Entertainment; Autobiographies and memoirs; Life stories

*All descriptions and genres have been copied here from Novelist.*

Novelist - visit this digital resource tool to find out more in depth information about these titles, as well as other similar works.