African-Americans

Non-fiction

1.	  The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Alexander, Michelle
DB74560
Civil-rights attorney reviews America's racial history and argues that widespread incarceration of African Americans has replaced legal segregation as a means of social control. Suggests the war on drugs creates a pretense for mass arrests and leads to permanent second-class citizenship for former inmates. Foreword by Cornel West.

2.	  I Am Not Your Negro
Baldwin, James
DB 88630
Br 21879
A compilation of passages from unpublished and previously published books, essays, letters, notes, and interviews used in the creation of the 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary of the same name. Explores Baldwin's unwritten book concept profiling Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Some strong language.

3.	Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party 
DB 76438
Bloom, Joshua; Martin, Waldo E. 
Comprehensive history of the Black Panther Party emphasizing its political ideology. Chronicles the transformation of a local group--organized in 1966 Oakland, California, by community college students Bobby Seale and Huey Newton to prevent police brutality--into an international entity.

4.	Madam C.J. Walker
Bundles, A’lelia Perry 
DBC: 13577
A biography of the Afro-American businesswoman whose invention of facial creams and other cosmetics led to great financial success and who, throughout her life, devoted herself to many social and political causes. For junior and senior high. 

5.	Between the World and Me
Coates, Ta-Nehisi
DB 82201
Br 21183
Columnist and editor for the Atlantic Monthly examines the history of contentious race relations in America. He reflects on the ways racial inequality plays out in his personal past and in the twenty-first century, and imagines the world his teenage son may inherit. 

6.	Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
Douglass, Frederick
DB 21421
A personal narrative covering Douglass's experiences as a slave, a fugitive, and a spokesman for the abolitionist cause and describing the full impact of the early struggle for freedom by Negroes. First published in 1881.

7.	Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy and the Rise of Jim Crow
Gates, Henry Louis
Db 94631
Account of the struggles faced by African Americans in the century between the Civil War and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Discusses the Emancipation Proclamation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, and more. Profiles key figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells. 

8.	  So You Want to Talk about Race
Oluo, Ijeoma
Db92142
Br 23110
Collection of essays addressing questions regarding the racial divide between white and black Americans. Topics covered include what is racism, ways to discuss race, privilege, intersectionality, police brutality, affirmative action, the "N" word, cultural appropriation, microaggressions, the model minority myth, moving the conversation forward, and more. Some strong language. 

9.	The Color of Law: A Forgotten History on How Our Government Segregated America
Rothstein, Richard
DB 92052 
Historian argues that American cities did not become racially divided due to de facto segregation but due to housing and lending policies put in place by local, state, and federal governments. Examines public housing, racial zoning, home ownership, white flight, suppressed incomes, and more. 

10.	the Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
Wilkerson, Isabel
DB 71929
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist chronicles the migration of African Americans from the South during 1915-1970. Recounts experiences of sharecropper's wife Ida Mae Gladney in 1937, citrus picker George Starling in 1945, and physician Pershing Foster in 1953. Asserts that institutionalized racism spurred millions to uproot themselves. Some violence.

Fiction

1.	 The Salt Eaters
Bambara, Toni Cade
DB 37360
Traces the past, present, and alternate futures of the black in- habitants of Claybourne, Georgia, in the span of two hours. The novel focuses on two women sitting on stools in the Southwest Community Infirmary. One woman is Velma Henry, the former civil rights activist and community leader who has become "uncentered" and has attempted suicide; the other is Minnie Ransom, healer, herb woman, and spiritual center of the community. Strong language. 

2.	 Singing in the Comeback Choir
Campbell, Bebe Moore
DB 45848
Lindy Walker gave up a singing career to care for her granddaughter, Maxine McCoy. Now Maxine is married and a successful African American television producer, and it is Lindy who needs help. When Maxine returns to her old Philadelphia neighborhood, she encourages Lindy to sing again. But unexpectedly, Maxine also finds redemption in her roots. Some strong language. 

3.	Liar's Game 
DB 50892
Dickey, Eric Jerome. 
Dana leaves New York for a fresh start in Los Angeles. She meets Vince, whose ex-wife is refusing to let him see his daughter. Both Dana and Vince fear long-term commitment and jeopardize their relationship by hiding details about the past. Some explicit descriptions of sex and some strong language. 

4.	Invisible Man
Ellison, Ralph
DB 09600
Br 14988 
Classic novel of man's search for identity. Follows a young black man from his youth in a Southern town through the depression years in Harlem, where he examines and rejects the values thrust on him by both whites and blacks. Some strong language. National Book Award 1953

5.	 The Edge of Heaven
Golden, Marita
DB 47073
Fearing her mother's return from prison, African American college student Teresa recalls life when her father was at home and her sister was still alive. Her mother, Lena, is also worried about facing family and friends after her release. Over time, they all struggle to understand the terrible events that led to a child's death. Some descriptions of sex.

6.	 Homegoing
Gyassi, Yaa
DB 84732
In the 1700s, half sisters Esi and Effia are born in Ghana without knowing each other. Effia marries a wealthy Englishman, while Esi is imprisoned in the dungeon of the castle where Effia lives, before she is shipped to America and sold into slavery. Their descendants witness history.

7.	 I Love Myself When I am Laughing…And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader
Hurston, Zora Neale and Alice Walker
DB 33319
An anthology of selections from Hurston's articles, short stories, autobiography, essays, fiction, and African-American and West Indian folklore. Hurston was part of the Harlem Renaissance. Her writings, plus commentary by Mary Helen Washington and Alice Walker, provide insight into this most prolific black woman writer during the 1930s and 1940s.

8.	 Bring on the Blessings
Jenkins, Beverly
DB 69107
After her marriage of thirty years dissolves, former social worker Bernadine Edwards uses her millions to buy the bankrupt town of Henry Adams, Kansas--first settled by freed slaves. Bernadine becomes determined to create a safe haven for foster children and teens. Some strong language. 

9.	 Home
Morrison, Toni
Db 74782
Br 19495
1950s. African American Frank Money, a Korean War veteran suffering from stress and alcoholism, leaves a Seattle mental hospital after learning that his sister Cee is gravely ill. Frank rescues Cee, taking her home to rural Georgia so that they may both heal. Violence and some strong language.

10.	 The Piano Lesson
Wilson, August
Db 34104
A piano carved with their ancestral figures is causing an uproar in the Charles family. Boy Willie wants to sell the heirloom to buy the farmland his ancestors worked as slaves. His sister Berniece refuses, because their father was murdered for stealing the piano from his old master's family. Other family members, friends, and a ghost round out the cast of this two-act play. Pulitzer Prize-winner.