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Black History Month - 2024

It's February and time to celebrate Black History Month so read a book written by a contemporary black author.  Bit of a mixed message, huh?  Still, you'll find all manner of books in this list: historical fiction, essays, short stories, science fiction, mysteries, nonfiction and even "black chick lit" (term excerpted from a review in Ebony).

This list was updated January 2024 and now includes nonfiction titles as well as new fiction published in 2023.  The last 3 titles on the list are CDs with music written and performed by Muddy Waters.




All That She Carried

by Tiya Miles


Americanah

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie






Black Cake

by Charmaine Wilkerson


The Black Church

by Henry Gates


Black Girl Call Home

by Jasmine Mans


The Black Panthers Portraits from an Unfinished Revolution

by Bryan Shih


Buses Are A Comin'

by Charles Person


Call Us What We Carry

by Amanda Gorman


Can't Be Satisfied : the life and times of Muddy Waters

by Robert Gordon


Carolina Built

by Kianna Alexander


Chuck : An American LIfe

by R J Smith


Deacon King Kong

by James Mcbride


The Death Of Vivek Oji

by Akwaeke Emezi


Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

by Zz Packer


Driving the Green Book

by Alvin Hall


The Fifth Season

by N. K. Jemisin


Fifty Words for Rain

by Asha Lemmie


The Final Revival of Opal and Nev

by Dawnie Walton




The First Ladies

by Marie Benedict


The Girl in the Yellow Poncho

by Kristal Zook


Harlem Shuffle

by Colson Whitehead


The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

by James McBride






How Beautiful We Were

by Imbolo Mbue


How Stella Got Her Groove Back

by Terry Mcmillan


If I Survive You

by Jonathan Escoffery


In the Upper Country

by Kai Thomas




Jacob Lawrence: the Migration Series

by Leah Dickerman


Jane Crow

by Rosalind Rosenberg




Just Pursuit A Black Prosecutor's Fight For Fairness

by Laura Coates






Last Summer On State Street

by Toya Wolfe


Life and Other Songs

by Anissa Gray


The Light We Carry

by Michelle Obama




The Matter of Black Lives

by Jelani Cobb




My Sister the Serial Killer

by Oyinkan Braithwaite




Nightcrawling

by Leila Mottley


No Heaven for Good Boys

by Keisha Bush


The Office Of Historical Corrections

by Danielle Evans


On Juneteenth

by Annette Gordon-Reed


Ordinary Light

by Tracy K. Smith






Red At The Bone

by Jacqueline Woodson






Seven Days in June

by Tia Williams


Sisters in Arms

by Kaia Alderson


Soil : the story of a Black mother's garden

by Camille Dungy




The Sweetness Of Water

by Nathan Harris


To Walk About in Freedom

by Carole Emberton


Take My Hand

by Dolen Perkins-Valdez


Transcendent Kingdom

by Yaa Gyasi


The Turner House

by Angela Flournoy


The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett


Walk with Me

by Kate Clifford Larson


Washington Black

by Esi Edugyan


The Warmth of Other Suns

by Isabel Wilkerson


The Water Dancer

by Ta-nehisi Coates


We Lie Here

by Rachel Howzell Hall


What The Fireflies Knew

by Kai Harris


When Stars Rain Down

by Angela Jackson-Brown


What We Lose

by Zinzi Clemmons


White Lies : the Double Life of Walter White

by A J Baime


The Wild Women and the Blues

by Denny S. Bryce


With Billie

by Julia Blackburn


Wow No Thank You

by Samantha Irby


Yinka Where Is Your Huzband

by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn


You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty

by Akwaeke Emezi




The Best of Muddy Waters

by Muddy Waters


Muddy Waters : The Definitive Collection

by Muddy Waters